Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. has instructed the Bureau of Animal Industry to expand the controlled testing of the African swine fever vaccine in Luzon to include regions designated as red zones in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Last week, the BAI initiated the first round of vaccinations on healthy pigs in Lobo, Batangas, identified as ground zero for the largest ASF outbreak since the monsoon season began.
“We will cast a wider net to include La Union, Quezon, Mindoro, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Cebu in the BAI’s controlled testing of the initial 150,000 doses of ASF vaccines we have imported from Vietnam,” Secretary Tiu Laurel said.
The vaccines are provided free of charge to hog farmers to support efforts in combating the disease. Secretary Tiu Laurel said commercial pig farms in areas with numerous infections will also receive ASF vaccines to safeguard their stock from the disease.
“Our goal is to ensure a steady supply of pork in the market and stabilize prices,” he added.
Since the first ASF outbreak in 2019, which led to the culling of over 300,000 pigs, the hog industry has struggled to recover from the disease’s severe impact.
The high ASF mortality rate has forced many small-scale pig farms to cease operations to avoid losses. In response, the Department of Agriculture has increased the indemnification of diseased pigs surrendered for culling, raising the compensation ceiling to P12,000 for breeders from a maximum of only P5,000.
The government has allocated P300 million for the procurement of approximately 600,000 doses of the ASF vaccine developed in Vietnam, and an additional P50 million for related inoculation costs.
