The Ministry of Agriculture says African Swine Fever has been detected in 11 provinces. An infected pig will die in a week’s time. The Ministry of Agriculture has ordered all the pigs in Sanchez Ramírez be sacrificed. It’s a sad repeat of the days back in 1978 when the country had to sacrifice all its hogs after African Swine Fever hit. Thousands of small farmers are losing their source of livelihood.
The 11 provinces are: Sánchez Ramírez, Santiago, Hermanas Mirabal, La Vega, Montecristi, Elías Piña, San Juan de la Maguana, Distrito Nacional, Dajabón, Duarte and Santiago Rodríguez. In Sánchez Ramírez alone, 18,000 hogs were ordered to be sacrificed. The military and the Center for Emergency Operations (COE) are on the watch to ensure that hogs are not transported to provinces where the disease has yet to be detected.
So far, the disease is affecting small pig farmers, not so the around 365 large pig industries that had sanitary controls in place and produce 80% of the local consumption. Luis Brache, president of the Dominican Association of Hog Farms (Adogranja), said the large farms are applying biosecurity protocols to avoid spreading the disease to the large producers. Brache says demand has dropped 12% after the spread of the disease reached the media. The industry is said to have sales of RD$15 billion a year.
While the disease does not affect humans that consume the pork, the government has ordered that the pigs be sacrificed and not butchered for human consumption. The explanation is that if the pigs are moved to the slaughterhouses and manufacturing plants, the disease could spread further.
The president of the Dominican Federation of Hog Farmers, Francisco Israel Brito said that the disease is putting at risk more than RD$10 billion invested in hog farms nationwide and the welfare of 20,000 small hog farmers.
A donation of equipment to detect the African Swine Fever has been received from the United States to help halt the spread of the disease. The test results can be had in 48 hours.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
El Caribe
El Nuevo Diario
5 August 2021