LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The provincial government adopted the zoning scheme of the areas which are affected by the African Swine Fever (ASF) from the non-ASF affected barangays in the province to ensure the stability of supply of pork for the people, especially with the upcoming celebrations during the summer months.
Gov. Melchor Diclas issued Executive Order No. 2020-012 declaring 7 barangays in the different municipalities affected with ASF as within the red zone while the green zone are the areas which have no reported ASF cases that is part of the efforts of the local government to strengthen measures to prevent, contain and manage the spread of the animal disease in the province.
Under the aforesaid order, the transport of live pigs, pork and pork products from the red zone to the green zone will be strictly prohibited to prevent the rapid spread of the ASF to the cleared areas.
However, barangays under the green zone will be allowed to transport live pigs, pork and pork products to other barangays eregardless of their zone type but barangays within red zones are restricted to transport such products to red zone barangays.
Among the 7 barangays that were identified to be within the red zone include Camp 1, Camp 4-6 and Taloy Sur in Tuba; Luacan and Tinongdan in Itogon; Beckel in La Trinidad and Poblacion in Kabayan.
Earlier, Kabayan Mayor Faustino Aquisan issued an executive order suspending swine raising in the municipality and encouraging the raisers to dispose their remaining uninfected pigs by selling the same while the animal disease has not yet spread throughout the town.
Further, the municipal mayor also ordered a temporary ban on the entry of live pigs, pork and processed meat in the municipality as part of the stop gap measures to prevent the further spread of the animal disease.
At the same time, the provincial government remained firm on its previous position to temporarily impose a total ban on the entry of live pigs, pork and pork products in the province, especially those coming from areas that have reported ASF cases to prevent the possible spread of the virus to cleared barangays.
The other provinces in the Cordillera that have reported ASF cases are Ifugao and Kalinga where over 600 pigs were depopulated from the 1-kilometer radius from the epicenter of the reported ASF cases.
Quarantine inspectors have been stationed in the different entry points in the areas that have reported ASF cases to sustain the inspection of live pigs, pork and pork products to prevent the entry of infected livestock that might complicate the situation in the aforesaid provinces.
ASF can be transmitted through direct contact of an infected animal with another while there is no animal to human or human to human transmission of the virus, thus, the culling of pigs in the area where the infected ones is highly recommended.
The hog dealers with infected pigs will be indemnified by the agriculture department with P5,000 per head with pigs over 28 days old but up to a maximum of 20 pigs per affected riser but the release of the funds will be dependent on the availability of funds from the concerned agency.
By Hent
