Only 17 out of the target 500 barangays had been deployed with sentinel pigs for the national hog repopulation program of the Department of Agriculture (DA),
Sentinel pigs are being placed in areas formerly infected with the African swine fever (ASF), to be monitored for six weeks if they will show signs and symptoms of the disease.
The deployment of sentinel pigs represents the initial step for the repopulation program to help hog raisers recover from the effects of ASF.
Ruth Miclat-Sonaco, director of the country’s national livestock program, said as of May 14, all 17 barangays deployed with sentinel pigs are in Batangas for a total of 237 sentinel pigs.
In a virtual briefing yesterday, Sonaco said 11 barangays are in Lipa City, four in Calatagan and two in Malvar.
Sonaco said the target is to complete the deployment to all 500 barangays by the third quarter of the year. Some of the hog farms are still being cleaned or disinfected or are being assessed for bioassay, a test for the presence of virus in the area.
“Cleaning and disinfection will be done 30 days from the depopulation while the bioassay involving the swab testing of the environment to get samples from the land, pens and food container of hogs are being done during the 7th and 14th day after the cleaning and disinfection. If all tests are found negative, that is only the time we will provide an area with sentinel pigs,” she said.
The sentinel pigs will then be tended by growers for about 40 days. The DA provides three to five sentinel hogs for each farmer affected by the ASF in a particular barangay.
The sentinel program is intended to be administered in 18 barangays in the Cordillera Administrative Region; 75 in Ilocos; 93 in Cagayan; another 93 in Central Luzon; 125 in Calabarzon; 56 in Bicol; 15 in Davao; and 25 in Soccsksargen.
“The government’s target for the national hog repopulation program is to recover over 300,000 breeder hogs over the next three to four years for us to get back from pre-ASF production volume,” Sonaco added.
Based on data from the DA’s Bantay Presyo, as of yesterday (May 25), pork kasim has a prevailing per kg price of P340 while liempo is prevailing at P380 per kg.
