THE Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas has deployed personnel to conduct geotagging activity among backyard and commercial hog farms in the region including Negros Occidental.
This is in compliance with the Department Memorandum dated March 13 ordering the submission of hog inventory with geotagged photos.
DA-Western Visayas Regional Director Remelyn Recoter, in a statement, said the move is also in line with the African swine fever (ASF) prevention and control plan.
Recoter said the plan focuses on border and boundary restrictions, surveillance and movement control under Executive Order 105.
"We have to determine the exact hog population per municipality in order to estimate possible effect in a ground zero within one-kilometer radius and for indemnification purposes," she added.
Each province has their respective teams which will coordinate with the city and municipal agriculture and health offices before conducting inventory and take geotagged pictures of the existing stocks.
Dr. Jonic Natividad, chief of the Regulatory Division of DA-Western Visayas, said that proper biosecurity measures shall be observed by the deployed personnel.
These include seven-days interval when geotagging different farms, observance of good hygiene and sanitation, disinfecting footwear and, if possible, ask someone preferably farm personnel to take geotag photos inside the farm.
The DA is mandated to ensure every Filipino household in the country, which are dependent from outside sources of food, will have access to safe and affordable food and guarantee the free-flow movement of essential food commodities for residents.
The activity is also in line with the intensified monitoring of all ports of entry not only against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) but with ASF and bird flu in the region. (With PR)