“We will defeat the Asian swine fever (ASF) as a nation!” – PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. Together, as that is the only way to do it.
(swine image[1] from Shutterstock)
On Monday, 04 October 2021, Mr Dar proclaimed October “1st National Livestock & Poultry Month” of the Philippines. This was made urgent by the ASF pandemic.
If we simply point our finger to the Department of Agriculture (DA) as a failure here, then we are part of the problem! Here are examples of how we can be part of the solution:
Swine raisers – Do not call your pork healthy when you know your herd has ASF.
Market meat vendors – Do not sell pork if not from a healthy source.
Pork customers – Do not buy from a suspicious source without checking out first.
Local government units (LGUs) – Help the DA solve the ASF problem or at least contain it in your specific areas.
We can do it! Historically, Mr Dar said during the launching of the National Livestock & Poultry Month (main image above from Facebook post), “Among the Philippines’ earliest achievements in science and technology were a set of protocols for the health of cattle and swine.” Thus, in 1923, the UP College of Veterinary Science developed a serum against rinderpest, and Filipinos eventually eradicated this animal disease.
Today, Mr Dar said:
We are backed into a corner by the (ASF), a pig disease that is a hundred years old. Let’s face it. Two years into the outbreak, it remains the burning issue by which the agriculture sector is judged. (We are being) unfairly judged.
In the Philippines, ANN says more than 7,400 pigs had been culled on farms in several villages in Rizal and Bulacan provinces because of ASF (Author Not Named, 09 September 2019, “Philippines Confirms African Swine Fever, Culls 7,000 Pigs,” Aljazeera.com). Mr Dar became Secretary of Agriculture on 05 August 2019, only a month earlier; this means 2 things: one, that the ASF had been ignored and/or neglected by the previous Secretary in managing the disease; two, Mr Dar had acted as he should have vs-a-vis the ASF.
“The disease forced us to import,” Mr Dar said, and “to continually haggle with lawmakers on policies (and funds) we think best for our producers and consumers.”
Mr Dar calls the DA’s suite of interventions “Whole-of-Nation Approach” – all sectors contributing. Bayanihan. Thus, he says, “We rallied LGUs to be involved and to take the lead in monitoring and surveillance, while we stand on the ready to provide them technical assistance.”
“Central Luzon State University developed rapid test kits; we partnered with the United States government for the production of vaccines.”
Thinking ahead, Mr Dar says:
We (have) armed ourselves against future Transboundary Animal Diseases through the establishment of the Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases… by leveraging on the capabilities of our State Colleges and Universities, the way we historically did with the eradication of rinderpest.
To get rid of the ASF, nationally & naturally, we have to work together in harmony!@517
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