Legazpi remains ASF free

By Cet Dematera

Due to the strict implementation of preventive measures by the City Veterinary Office (CVO), this Legazpi City has maintained zero or negative presence of the African Swine Fever (ASF) infection despite reported infection cases in nearby areas.

To maintain this condition, CVO chief Emmanuel Estipona said that his office is strictly conducting monitoring of possible illegal slaughtering activities in the city’s different villages and making a series of inspection of canned goods in all groceries as well as meat shops and meat stores to prevent the entry of ASF within the city.

He said that all the barangay officials of the city’s 70 villages are aggressively monitoring the hog raisers at their own respective areas to make sure early detection should ASF infection breaks out.

“The CVO is also conducting regular checkpoints to all the strategic areas to prevent the entry of infected pigs coming from other provinces,” Estipona said.

He said his office will also be starting its repopulation program to boost the existing supply of hogs and prevent the spike of prices of meat products being sold in the local market.

“We are now implementing the hog repopulation program through the acronym SAVE, which stands for: S-sourcing of fund and stocks to help the farmers for their operations of the backyard hog raising in the community.”

“A” stands for adoption of barangay ASF program through the Administrative Orders 6 and 7 issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the guidelines of hog repopulations.

“A” also stands for the availment of the national program on repopulation through the implementation of the Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion (INSPIRE).

“V” is veterinary and barangay bio-security officers to monitor and check the meat products in the market.

And “E” stands for education of bio-security measures to make sure all the pigsty are in the proper design and should be disinfected regularly.

“All the hog raisers are required to register on Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) before they enroll their pigs at the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC)”, Estipona added.

He said that almost 60 percent of the income of slaughter house was already affected by the hog scarcity noting that March last year, the Double AA abattoir had posted P2.4 million revenue compared to the same period this year with only P1.3 million collection.