A private company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Agriculture to contain the African Swine Fever outbreak which decimated the hog population in several provinces.
Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Company president and chief operating officer Ricardo Alba said the partnership would strengthen the government’s programs in controlling the spread of the disease and revive the badly-hit swine industry.
“It’s been two years since ASF came to the Philippines. And based on government data, there’s been a reduction of 24 percent on both commercial and backyard hogs, in terms of population,” Alba said during the signing ceremony on March 17, 2021.
Under the MOU, UNAHCO will deliver a massive information and education campaign, bringing in more than 1,000 representatives to monitor swine raisers and their operations across the country.
“They will roam around the country down to the barangay level to provide biosecurity measures to prevent the onset of spread of ASF and other swine disease,” Alba said.
Alba said the ultimate goal of the government and the private sector is to bring back the lost capacity of the Philippine swine sector to 13 million hogs annually and grow this to sufficiency levels.
He said the partnership would strive to contain ASF by implementing the DA’s twin program, Bantay ASF sa Barangay and Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion.
BABay ASF is a multi-stakeholder partnership program between the public and private sector and veterinarians that aims to control the spread of ASF at the grassroots level through biosecurity, surveillance and monitoring as well as restocking of swine farms affected by the disease.
Meanwhile, INSPIRE aims to accelerate the repopulation and recovery of the hog industry to ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of pork and pork products.
Under the partnership, UNAHCO will create a working group composed of industry partners and assign a focal person who will coordinate with the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry, National Livestock Program and Regional Field Offices.
The company will lead industry partners to support the DA in implementing the BABay ASF and INSPIRE with the provision of gilts to breeders, as well as piglets, disinfectants, vitamin supplements, technology transfer and technical manpower for coordination and mobilization.
UNAHCO has been a consistent partner of the DA in rehabilitation and repopulation programs for small-scale and commercial pig farms. The company’s programs in support of the DA’s initiatives in reviving the hog industry include “Pigkitaan Natin Muli”, a swine repopulation program for small-scale hog raisers under the Pigrolac Hog Feeds and the “Singko Kasado Biosecurity Campaign” that educates backyard hog raisers on the biosecurity.
“With this technology, though we cannot provide the piglets, we will guide swine farmers to start right. We stand committed after having been in the industry for more than 54 years. We would like to reassure the DA and Secretary William Dar, that we will be with you [in this endeavor] and I hope we will succeed,” said Alba.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar reiterated his call to the LGUs, hog industry stakeholders, veterinary associations, universities and research institutions, farmers’ cooperatives and associations and backyard and commercial hog raisers to come together and put into motion the stringent and sustainable biosecurity measures against ASF.
“I am confident that with this partnership, we can attain our goal of reviving the swine sector, which is very crucial in our food security efforts, considering that the swine industry is one of the biggest contributors of our overall agricultural output. More work is to be done if we are to emerge victorious in this battle,” Dar said.