Create task force vs ASF, Marcos urged

MANILA, Philippines — A farmers’ group yesterday urged President Marcos to create an inter-agency task force (IATF) that will address African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks in the country.

Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc., said that aside from ASF, the task force would also address diseases affecting the agriculture sector such as bird flu and other pest infestations.

“I am proposing the creation of an inter-agency task force similar to the IATF against the coronavirus formed during the previous administration to address the pandemic. It will be an inter-agency task force for animal diseases such as ASF and bird flu,” Fausto said.

“There is a need to establish an inter-agency task force that will draft and enforce a unified policy against ASF. As of now, local government units have their own policies and rules in preventing the spread of the disease,” he said.

Fausto said the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) should be the lead agencies of the task force.

“We need to have a uniform policy. A whole-of-nation approach is needed to address animal diseases,” he said.

Fausto said the country’s pork production has now recovered, citing a report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing a 1.9 percent growth from the negative 17 percent in 2021.

 He said that backyard hog raisers are the most affected by the ASF outbreak.

“Commercial farms are capable of providing biosecurity measures while backyard hog-raisers are not.That‘s why most of the outbreaks occurred in backyard piggeries,” Fausto said.

The hog industry will soon be composed of 65 percent commercial piggeries and 35 percent backyard raisers, he said.

“Based on PSA data, we are recovering. Commercial piggeries will now take over the operation of backyard hog-raising. From the current 65 percent, backyard hog-raising will go down to 35 percent either this year or next year,” Fausto said.

Earlier, the BAI announced the success of the field trial conducted on the vaccine against ASF.