The Department of Agriculture (DA) has received P2.16-billion request for indemnification from backyard hograisers whose pigs were culled due to the African swine fever (ASF) since 2019.
The DA said P1.7 billion has been paid by its regional field offices to 48,530 farmer-beneficiaries who owned 379,420 culled hogs.
The payout is P5,000 per culled pig.
DA Secretary William Dar said the remaining P461 million for 92,200 culled hogs is yet to be released.
The latest advisory on ASF on September 10 said active cases of ASF have been reported in 41 barangays in 13 provinces.
Dar said government allotted P42.8 billion for lending to backyard and commercial hog raisers in ASF-free areas with P30 billion coming from the Land Bank of the Philippines; P12 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines; and P800 million form the Agricultural Credit Policy Council.
DA’s hog repopulation program has distributed 8,169 sentinel pigs to 3,061 farmer-beneficiaries in 312 ASF-free barangays.
Community-based production facilities are being established in 10 ASF-free areas through clustering and consolidation equipped with climate-controlled and bio-security capabilities alongside breeder multiplier farms.
The DA is encouraging backyard and commercial hog raisers to have their animal stocks insured with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. to avail of insurance coverage of up to P10,000 for fatteners and P14,500 for breeders.
