National Unity Party (NUP) president LRay Villafuerte has welcomed the scheduled local rollout in two months’ time of the Vietnamese vaccine found effective against the African swine fever (ASF), as he reiterated his proposal for the Department of Agriculture (DA) to give the anti-ASF shots for free to the swine population of small or backyard raisers.
“With an effective anti-ASF vaccine in the offing,” said Villafuerte, “the DA can best boost its swine repopulation program and provide succor to livestock raisers reeling from ASF outbreaks and the lingering impact of Covid-19 on their enterprises, by rolling out a free immunization drive for the hogs of backyard growers, who account for a majority of our local producers,” Villafuerte said.
“Give the shots to local hogs at no cost to backyard raisers, given that many of them remain financially distressed owing to the negative impact of the continuing ASF outbreaks and Covid-19 on their enterprises, and are thus in no position to shoulder the extra cost of inoculation.”
He appealed to the DA “to give the shots to local hogs at no cost to backyard raisers, given that many of them remain financially distressed owing to the negative impact of the continuing ASF outbreaks and Covid-19 on their enterprises, and are thus in no position to shoulder the extra cost of inoculation.”
Villafuerte, who since last year advocated for free DA shots for the hogs of our backyard growers still reeling from the twin impact of ASF and Covid-19 on their enterprises, reiterated his proposal after Agriculture Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel Jr. announced this week the rollout of this vaccine, initially for government use only, by September.
Laurel said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved the local use of the vaccine, and that the DA would limit the rollout for the government’s use by September and for commercial use in six months’ time after that.
“The DA has to bid it out. So, hopefully … by September ay ma-rollout na iyon at ma-vaccinate na iyong growers ng ating mga backyard,” he said in a public briefing.
“But this is only for government use. Because basically, it will first be monitored for six months by the government,” he added. ““After that, hopefully, if everything passed and everything is okay, it will be for commercial use.”
In a farmers’ event earlier in Eastern Samar, Laurel said, “The vaccine from Vietnam really works. So, that solves our problem.”
Agriculture Undersecretary Deogracias Victor Savellano was quoted separately as saying that the livestock sector has proposed an P8.9 billion outlay under the DA’s proposed budget in 2025, and that the DA is planning to help backyard raisers, once the anti-ASF vaccine is approved, by possibly providing the shots for free.
“Kung may pondo kami iyon ang gagawin namin para suporta sa mga backyard raisers,” Savellano said.
Savellano said that the DA’s priority was to help backyard raisers who make up around 70% to 80% of the country’s hog producers.
When asked if the government would give out free shots, he replied: “May pondo naman ‘yung gobyerno, siguro ‘yung talagang nangangailangan. Pag-aaralan pa namin kung pano ‘yung implementing rules and regulations (IRR) noon.”
Villafuerte said he was optimistic that an inoculation program, especially if the shots were given for free to backyard raisers, will finally arrest the large-scale deaths of pigs and reinvigorate the ASF-plagued local hog industry.
“The anti-ASF vaccine rollout, as announced by President Marcos in May and by Secretary Kiko (Laurel) just recently, is expected to put an end to ASF-related deaths of locally grown pigs, thereby stabilizing the hog population, stanching the multibillion-peso annual losses in this livestock subsector, and eventually pulling down the retail prices of pork products that have unduly spiralled ever since this deadly virus struck the country in 2019,” Villafuerte said.
The CamSur legislator has introduced twin House resolutions (HRs) urging the bigger chamber to: (1) look into the extent of damages caused by ASF to the hog industry, and help the government draw up “more proactive measures and effective responses” to help this livestock subsector, and (2) ensure that the DA and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) prioritize the acquisition of the imported vaccines against ASF.
Villafuerte said in the two resolutions that, “The ASF vaccine is projected to reinvigorate and sustain the local and international market for quality pork and pork products, lower local pork prices and avoid further loss of livelihood.”
Hence, he said, “There is a need for a more aggressive response to ASF such as the procurement and implementation of vaccines that have already been developed for safe and effective use in Vietnam and being studied in other countries.”
For Villafuerte, the vaccine rollout is expected to “reinvigorate” the local hog industry, which “continues to reel from a pork supply shortfall and the consequent market price spike despite the numerous policy measures that the DA and its BAI (Bureau of Animal Industry) have initiated in recent years to repopulate the domestic pig population in the face of recurring ASF outbreaks nationwide.
An animal disease with an almost 100% fatality rate for infected pigs and boars, the ASF surfaced in Asia in 2018 and then hit the Philippines in 2019, leading to a 50%-drop in the domestic swine population from 13 million head pre-ASF to 6.6 million head in 2021.
The domestic pork inventory has continued to fall in the absence of a vaccine drive, with data from the DA-attached National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) showing that nationwide stocks in cold storage facilities total 50,658 metric tons (MT) in mid-May 2024 or a fourth lower than last year’s 67,359 MT.
Figures from the NMIS revealed that a chunk of the inventory during the period consisted of imports at 49,899 MT. This was lower than the 64,214 MT in the previous year.
NMIS data showed, too, that pork stocks from local raisers fell to 758 MT, from 3,145 MT, as the ASF continued to affect domestic output.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), meanwhile, showed that the seasonally adjusted value of livestock output fell 1.8% in the year’s first quarter, with “hog as the top contributor to the contraction in the value of production during the first three months of 2024.”
Because of the continued supply shortfall, pork prices have jumped from the previous average of P250 a kilo in the market in 2019 to the current P342 to P381, as reported by the DA in its July 8-13 Bantay Presyo monitor.
The Philippines is the world’s tenth-largest consumer, eighth biggest producer and seventh largest importer of pork.
In HR No. 771, Villafuerte noted that despite the repopulation efforts of the government, as the disease spread throughout the Philippines from 2019 to the present, industry losses have been estimated by a DA executive at $20 million or over P1 billion each month.
In the complementary HR 772, meanwhile, Villafuerte said that, “The loss of pork production in small backyard holdings, which account for 72.1% of the total swine population, has ensured the incapacitation of families who rely primarily on pork for both their livelihood and nutrition.”
Villafuerte said this deadly disease has devastated local industry players, especially the backyard raisers who account for a majority of local output, but in the absence of an anti-ASF vaccine, these affected stakeholders have been hesitant to invest money in repopulating their farms or backyards for fear of future ASF outbreaks.
In HR 771, Villafuerte said that: “The Philippine government resorted to several preventive measures that include massive information dissemination campaign, confiscation of pork products from countries infected with ASF, reporting system for ASF symptoms and suspicions, implementation of quarantine and disinfection mechanisms and constant monitoring of slaughterhouses and markets … zoning plans have (likewise) been in place since 2020” that limited trading to certain areas of the country.
Earlier, the FDA confirmed that the BAI had applied for certification of the Avac vaccine against ASF that is produced in Vietnam.
Villafuerte had proposed to the DA to do the following:
· Declare a state of calamity in ASF-struck areas, so calamity or quick response funds can be accessed at once for the planned immunization drive; and
· Subsidize 100% of the cost of the shots for backyard raisers, who make up the bulk of local hog growers and who are still reeling from the adverse impact on their small enterprises of this deadly animal disease.
The BAI has confirmed outbreaks of this lethal virus in 5,324 barangays in 73 provinces in 17 regions over the last five years.
As of mid-May, there were active ASF cases in 78 barangays in 18 municipalities in 11 provinces in seven regions.
