SENTINELING. Antique Provincial Veterinary (ProVet) Office personnel validates a backyard piggery in the San Jose de Buenavista on June 6, 2024. Antique ProVet Public Health Division chief Dr. Marco Rafael Ardamil said in an interview Tuesday (June 18) that they endorse 139 swine raisers from San Jose de Buenavista for the sentineling program. (Photo courtesy of Antique Provincial Veterinary Office)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Antique Provincial Veterinary (ProVet) endorsed 139 hog farmers affected by African Swine Fever (ASF) from the Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista to avail of the sentinelling program of the Department of Agriculture.
ProVet Public Health Division chief Dr. Marco Rafael Ardamil said they have already validated their backyard piggeries and hog farms.
“The last ASF positive case in the Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista was on Oct. 26, 2023,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
San Jose de Buenavista is one of the ASF-affected local government units in Western Visayas with status upgraded from red (infected) zone to pink (buffer) zone.
Ardamil said they expect the regional office of DA to provide swine raisers with three piglets each to serve as experimental animals.
The area is free of ASF and swine raisers could proceed to swine repopulation for fattening or breeding purposes once the piglets survive during the 40-day monitoring period.
“Among the areas considered during our validation were the cleanliness, in-place disinfection, and prohibition to outsiders to enter the piggeries or hog farms,” Ardamil said.
He also said that they used the Bio-Security Level 1 checklist provided by DA to find out the readiness of the piggeries or hog farms for the sentinelling program.
San Jose de Buenavista incurred a total of PHP24.1 million in losses due to the death of 2,998 swine at the height of the ASF. (PNA)
