THE majority of Davao Region has already been cleared from African Swine Fever (ASF), said Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-Davao) Regional Director Abel Monteagudo on Tuesday, October 4.
“Naa gihapon ang problema sa ASF (We are still facing the ASF problem) but the good thing, there are already areas that graduated from being a red zone, katong mga gideklarang contaminated na area, free na siya (those areas previosuly declared as contaminated are now ASF-free),” Monteagudo said during the Agribiz Forum at SM Lanang Premier.
He said in areas identified “green zones,” farmers are now able to raise hogs once again.
In line with this, the DA-Davao continues to implement its sentinelling and repopulation programs by providing financial and resource assistance to cooperatives and associations of hog farmers to revive the industry.
“Some of them nagsugod na sila pa-construct sa ilahang piggeries (have started to construct their piggeries)... Naa gihatag na design ang DA na mao to ang desired na design na kung pwede mao to ilang gamiton (because) mao to ang nipasa sa standards and mas maayo pud siya na design (to) control ASF (The DA provided a design that meets the standards to control ASF),” Monteagudo said.
The regional director clarified, however, that the ASF is not completely eradicated from the region, and even in the entire country since there is no vaccine yet to protect hogs against ASF infection.
On the other hand, Dr. Lailanie Roco, regional technical director of the National Meat Inspection Service of Davao Region (NMIS-Davao), that they are strictly monitoring the accreditation of hog facilities in the region to ensure safety.
Roco said the facilities will have to pass the national standards in terms of operations and their establishment, which are either A, AA, or AAA criteria.
“We are really implementing the cleaning sanitation and hygiene of the meat and ang pagkatay sa mga baboy sa mga (and the butchering process of the) slaughterhouses,” Roco said. ICM