By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Hog buyers outside Negros Occidental have canceled out their orders amid the threat brought by hog cholera in the province and African swine fever (ASF) in Bacolod City.
Provincial administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz confirmed the reports from several local hog raisers and sellers that ferry vessels have refused to ship live hogs from Negros to buyers in Luzon.
Diaz said he has yet to receive data as to how many sellers are affected.
“We will still continue to do our part in segregating healthy and unhealthy hogs,” Diaz said.
He added the provincial government will try to find a way to convince the buyers, as some of them even refuse to pay for the hogs at reasonable prices.
They are considering that sellers must provide buyers with copies of a veterinary certificate confirming that the hogs were tested negative for hog cholera and ASF.
As of Monday, May 29, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) logged a total of 7,202 hog deaths, with losses now at more than P88.2 million.
Only Bacolod City recorded confirmed ASF cases, while Negros Occidental still remains ASF-free.
However, the province is currently combating the spread of hog cholera.
Bacolod ASF cases ‘localized’
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental’s Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo insisted yesterday that ASF-positive hogs in Bacolod were not infected when they were bought from a local commercial hog farm in Bago.
Yulo’s response confirmed the earlier statement by the PVO, which strongly believed that ASF cases in Bacolod were localized as the hogs were already in the city’s Barangay Taculing for two weeks before they were subjected to a laboratory test.
According to Yulo, the Bago City government continues to send hog blood samples to PVO and the Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas (DA-6).
So far, laboratory results confirm that hog deaths in Bago were caused by hog cholera, and not ASF.
Yulo said DA-6 is set to confirm separate samplings.
However, he is concerned over possible duplication tests as the provincial government also sent its own results to the regional office for confirmatory testing.
The mayor said the city government is strengthening its biosecurity measures against ASF.
They also put up border controls and prohibited the entry of hogs and pork products from ASF-infected areas.
A paraveterinarian is required to attend the slaughtering of hogs./DGB, WDJ