BAGUIO CITY – Some one hundred eight barangays in the six provinces of the Cordillera had been affected by the prevalence of the African Swine Fever (ASF) among local hog raisers.
Dr. Cameron Odsey, regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR), disclosed that the ASF-affected barangays are located in some 43 municipalities in Apayao, Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province.
Further, he reported that there are some 2,841 farmers who had been infected by the ASF infestation where some Apayao had 326 affected farmers, Abra – 275 farmers, Benguet – 123 farmers, Ifugao – 658 farmers, Kalinga – 838 farmers and Mountain province – 621 farmers. Odsey added that there were some 8,607 pigs that were depopulated where Apayao had 140 pigs, Abra – 658 pigs, Benguet – 2,077 pigs, Ifugao – 5,063 pigs, Kalinga – 520 pigs and Mountain Province – 149 pigs.
The DA-CAR regional director claimed that there were a total of 232 ASF cases that were uncovered in the said areas where Apayao had 85 cases, Abra – 21 cases, Benguet – 31 cases, Ifugao – 26 cases, Kalinga – 57 cases and Mountain Province – 12 cases.
Based on the recent inventory conducted by the DA-CAR, there are 23,815 backyard farmers in the region where Apayao had 3,589 farmers, Abra – 6,444 farmers, Benguet – 5,362 farmers, Ifugao – 3,175 farmers, Kalinga – 3,175 farmers and Mountain Province – 2,070 farmers.
On the inventoried backyard pigs in the region, Odsey disclosed that there are some 89,466 pigs being take cared of by the identified backyard hog raisers where Abra had 23,634 pigs, Apayao – 11,246 pigs, Benguet – 30,104 pigs, Ifugao – 5,828 pigs, Kalinga – 5,828 pigs and Mountain Province – 12,826 pigs.
For commercial pigs, he stipulated that there are some 5,525 pigs that are distributed around the region where Abra had 3,577 pigs, Apayao – 278 pigs, Ifugao – 438 pigs, Kalinga – 438 pigs, Mountain Province – 794 while there are no commercial pigs that were documented in Benguet.
From 2020 to July 2021, Director Odsey explained that the agency was able to provide some P19.275 million to some 860 farmers who were able to benefit from the government’s ASF indemnification program to allow the same to be able to recover from the effects of the infestation of their hogs.
Based on disease investigation conducted by the agency, Odsey emphasized that the 5 sources of the ASF outbreak in the region include swill feeding representing 26 percent of the infestation; introduction of new stocks bought from ASF affected areas – 25 percent; direct and indirect contact through movement of tethered or free range pigs, movement of buyers or technicians from farm to farm, fomite, boar – 18 percent; wild pigs affected or dead meat brought home and dead wild pig near community or water source – 15 percent and near ASF affected areas – 16 percent.
He said that the agency remains steadfast in responding to the needs of the ASF affected farmers around the region for them to recover from the infestation of backyard and commercial piggery farms. By HENT