DA distributes piglets, feeds in CamNorte ASF-free towns

By Danica D. Caballero

LEGAZPI CITY --- The regional office of Department of Agriculture (DA) recently distributed close to 900 head of piglets in at least four towns of Camarines Norte province where hog-raisers were recovering from the effects of African Swine Fever (ASF).

According to the DA's Regional Livestock and Poultry Office, total number of head distributed reached 888, of which 67 percent went to Jose Panganiban and Talisay at 300 each while 150 head and 138 head were awarded to Labo and Santa Elena, respectively.

The young pigs were on top of 888 sacks of swine feeds that were also given to their recipients, of which the lion's share went to Jose Panganiban and Talisay at 300 apiece while the rest went to Labo and Santa Elena at 150 sacks and 138 sacks, respectively.

The piglets and feeds would provide a shot in the arm for 296 hog raisers in those four towns who were affected by ASF that ravaged their towns' hog population in the last two years.

Last January 31, hog raisers in the town of San Vicente received 50 piglets, while their counterparts in Daet received an identical number of piglets last February 1.

The piglet dispersal was part of DA's Calibrated Hog Repopulation Program (CHRP), an effort to rehabilitate the local hog industry.

Under the program, each qualified beneficiary receives three piglets and three sacks of feeds.

Before the piglet and feed distribution, all six towns scored a victory in their battle against the highly contagious hog virus as DA declared them ASF-free. The towns obtained the ASF-free status after no new cases of the swine fever were recorded there for at least 90 days.

Meanwhile, the rest of Camarines Norte--San Lorenzo Ruiz, Mercedes, Basud, and Vinzons towns--have yet to eradicate the hog virus in their areas.

On the other hand, Paracale and Capalonga remain ASF-free, as the highly contagious swine fever has not yet been detected in these towns.

Areas where ASF has been eradicated are given a surveillance period of 90, in which DA needs to collect blood samples in over 150 domestic pigs in each town. The process is supervised by the municipal agricultre officers and the Provincial Veterinary Office.

In Camarines Norte, the collection of blood samples was done from last January 31 to February 10.

The CHRP is anchored in DA's Memorandum Circular 16, which launched the Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion to implement the calibrated rpopulation and enhancement of the local swine industry to recover its capacity to produce sufficient supply of hogs and pork. (PIA5/Maria Alexis C. Ballester, Bicol University intern, contributed to this report.)