Despite Benguet province having cut its African swine fever (ASF) case incidence this year by more than half compared to last year, the local Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) has committed to tightening borders in anticipation of the need for imports this coming holiday season.
According to Benguet PVO Head Purita Lesing, while the province has an inventory of 56,000 heads of hog at any given time, its available internal supply is only a third or roughly 30 percent of the province’s demand, which makes imports unavoidable.
With the high demand, the province imports up to 26 million kilos worth of pork on the regular, necessitating constant vigilance to avoid the entry of ASF into the province.
According to Lesing, as of the end of October, the province has recorded 14 confirmed ASF cases, significantly less than the 30 recorded last year.
Lesing says that the drop in ASF cases is largely due to the strict implementation of border control and checkpoints, which have managed to stop a confirmed eight cases of ASF-infected pork attempting entry into the province.
She also added that the entry of ASF causes significantly more damage to the industry as the confirmation of a single case necessitates the mass culling of hogs within proximity of the confirmed case.
