The Ilocos Norte government has approved over PHP5.3 million cash assistance to local hog raisers who were hard-hit by the African swine fever (ASF).
Following a recent meeting with Provincial Resiliency Council, Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc reported Wednesday that over PHP5.3 million from the local disaster risk reduction and management fund has been realigned to provide cash assistance to the affected farmers.
Specifically, the amount will help farmers not covered with insurance packages from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.
“This is on top of over 900 food packs that were distributed to farmers and another 500 more to be distributed in the newly affected towns,” he added.
To date, each local government unit in the 21 towns and two component cities of Ilocos Norte are guarding their own turf to prevent the entry and further spread of ASF, affecting farmers’ alternative source of livelihood.
In Bacarra town, the municipal agriculture office has intensified their monitoring and surveillance operation to make sure that pork products would not be brought into the town.
Pork consumers are likewise urged to buy only from the local market for their own safety. For proper inventory, at least 891 pigpens in Bacarra town were geotagged for the monitoring and mapping of hog raisers.
In Pagudpud town, an ASF monitoring checkpoint was established in its municipal border to minimize chances of having ASF cases in the area.
“Bawal po na ipasok ang baboy, karne ng baboy at mga produkto na galing baboy kapag walang tamang dokumento (It is prohibited to transport hogs, pork meat and other processed products without proper documents),” the Ilocos Norte government said in its public advisory released Wednesday.
Source: Philippines News Agency
