To control re-breeding to ensure a sufficient supply of safe pork

Nearly 6 months after the first appearance of African swine fever epidemic (ASF) on 20 May, Binh Duong has basically gained control of ASF. Many areas in the province passed 30 days without any new cases and announced that have eliminated the epidemic. Some farms, household farm in the province has been -breeding to meet the pork demand of the year-end market.

Anh Khoa pig farm (Long Nguyen commune, Bau Bang district).

Be cautious when re-breeding

According to provincial Branch office of Animal Husbandry, Veterinary and Fisheries, the province had ASF cases and  abnormal pigs died in 1,371 households / farms in 83 communes, wards, towns of 9 districts, towns, and city with the total number of died and destroyed pigs was 86,281. The rate of died and destroyed pigs compared to accounted for 13.03% of total pig number in the province.

Phu Giao is the first district in the province where outbreaks occurred. After many months took preventive measures, the district has basically gain control over the epidemic. Trần Minh Đức, Head of Phu Giao District Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station, said that the district took active and urgent actions to prevent ASF. Currently, the epidemic situation in the district is basically under control; 3 communes announced to repel ASF. The station is completing procedures be certified the end of epidemic outbreaks for the remaining communes, because no new cases have been reported after many days.

While pork price is on the rise in recent days, re-breeding is the common need of many farmers. However, the district government only encourages people to re-breed in farms and animal husbandry facilities to implement livestock bio-security and avoid mass repopulation, because ASF still happens complicatedly and pathogens are alive, the risk of new outbreaks is high, farmers need to be very careful.

Nguyễn Văn Trinh, owner of Kim Linh pig farm (An Linh commune, Phu Giao district), said that although ASF did not cause damages, he was afraid of re- breeding. Currently, his farm has more than 2,000 pigs, he has actively applied bio-security measures, daily cleaning of breeding facilities, cleaning and disinfection of people and vehicles... In the coming time, he will raise his herd to ensure the supply for market demands.

According to leaders of Animal Husbandry, Veterinary and Aquaculture Branch Office, ASF epidemic in the province has basically been controlled. Currently, 52 communes, wards and towns passed30 days without new outbreaks. Therefore, the re- breeding is possible, if local governments closely monitor, control, and implement bio-security process. However, local governments and farmers must not be subjective and underestimate the epidemic, must maintain good hygiene, perform disinfection carefully to cut virus transmission from the environment to new herds.

Sufficient supply of safe pork

At present, pork price in the province is from VND68,500 - 71,000/kg, nearly doubled compared to 2 months ago.

Explaining this situation, traders said that the supply decreased due to the effects of ASF, while farmers were afraid of re-breeding, so the number of pig herds decreased sharply, causing pork price to increase. Especially, at year end, the demand for pork products increases, thus pork price rises sharply. In addition, many consumers and businesses have consumed pork again, after the authorities confirmed the ASF epidemic is under controlled, safe pork.

At markets in the province, pork prices increase by 15-25% compared to the lowest level last month. Specifically, bacon costs from VND 120,000 to VND 160,500/kg, lean thigh meat costs from VND 100,000 to VND 120,000/kg, foot is from VND 95,000 - VND 100,000/kg, ribs from VND 180,000 - VND 220,000/kg...

Trần Phú Cường, Director of provincial Branch office of Animal Husbandry, Veterinary and Fisheries, said safe pork still have stable supplies for consumers in the province. The total pig number in the province is over 600,000. Functional departments encouraged the re-breeding for bio-security farms; to small farmers, it is advised not to re-breed during this period.

In order to prevent recurrence of ASF, the Branch office has been collaborating to examine, control, and strictly tackle cases of trading, transporting pigs and illegal pig products; continue disinfecting epidemic areas and surrounding areas. The Branch office also popularizes safe breeding methods and encourages farmers to proactively cooperate with specialized agencies if they want to re- breed to ensure the efficiency.

Reported by Thoai Phuong – Translated by Ngoc Huynh

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