By Mae Singuay
The Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on agriculture is encouraging all hog raisers in the city to register their pigs for financial assistance in case they are affected by African swine fever (ASF).
Committee chair, Councilor Thaddeus Sayson clarified that the city has guidelines on the availment of financial aid from the Department of Agriculture.
Backyard and commercial hog raisers must register their hogs to the barangay, indicating the total population of their pigs.
This will give the barangay officials the basis of how many pigs they will have to pay in case they are affected by ASF.
However, Sayson said only hog raisers whose pigs were culled by the City Veterinary Office (CVO) are entitled to avail assistance.
“The hog raisers can avail assistance if there’s a positive ASF case within the barangays and their pigs will be subjected to culling,” the councilor pointed out.
Sayson stressed that pigs within a 50-meter radius from the infected area are subject to culling to prevent the spread of ASF.
He said there is corresponding financial assistance for every culled pig: P3,000 for piglets; P5,000 for fatteners; and P7,000 for breeding pigs (sow/boar).
The P10 million fund was sourced from the disaster preparedness funds of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Around 20 pigs have already been culled by the CVO, after the city has recorded four ASF positive cases recently./MS, WDJ