At least five small backyard raisers from remote Manalpac village in Solsona town, Ilocos Norte where the index case of African swine fever (ASF) was recorded, received alternative livelihood assistance from the provincial and municipal government.
To make up for their losses caused by ASF, Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Loida Valenzuela reported Friday that they just turned over two goats and nine heads of sheep to the selected beneficiaries while the Solsona government gave them one calf, six heads of sheep, and six heads of free-range chicken.
According to Valenzuela, more alternative livelihood assistance is underway since another village in Maan-anteng, Solsona town has been traced to have been infected by ASF.
She assured the ASF task force is conducting intensive surveillance and preventive measures to arrest the spread of ASF in the area.
As of this posting, over 100 hogs were affected by pre-emptive culling and post-culling in Barangays Maan-anteng and Barangay Manalpac.
As stated in the guidelines, all pigs in the 500-meter radius from the site inspection or ground zero shall be culled.
She urged the public, particularly hog farmers, to report immediately suspected symptoms such as high fever, decreased appetite or inappetence, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea, red or blue blotches, coughing and difficulty breathing, abortion in breeder pigs, and a high mortality rate in a specific location.
In Solsona town, Mayor Joseph de Lara appealed to his constituents to cooperate with local authorities as they are just implementing guidelines from the Department of Agriculture through its Administrative Order No. 22 series of 2020 entitled,” Guidelines on Swine Depopulation after African swine fever confirmation.”
“In these trying times, we ask everyone to be more vigilant. We reiterate that the prevention of ASF is the twin duty of the community and the government. We plead for your full cooperation,” de Lara said, assuring the local government unit will compensate other government agencies’ efforts to assist the affected hog raisers.
Source: Philippines News Agency
