LAOAG BEEFS UP BORDER WATCH VS SWINE DISEASE
city government here has imposed stringent border protocols, including quarantine checkpoints, to prevent the African swine fever (ASF) from infecting hogs in the province of Ilocos Norte.
Starting last Wednesday, vehicles carrying live hogs and processed pork products that entered the city were inspected to check if they have transport permits and meat inspection certificates from their points of origin indicating the cargoes were free from ASF.
The control and checkpoints would cover the villages of Lagui-Sail, Barit, San Mateo, Nangalisan and Balatong, the city government said. The guidelines were announced by the city government on its official Facebook page on July 20, the same day these measures took effect.
According to the city veterinarian office, the entry of live pigs would require a barangay certificate or a veterinary health certificate or a livestock health certificate. For pork products, a meat inspection certificate would be required. Refrigerated vans for pork products must be registered with shipping documents, the office said.
The latest protocols were meant to keep the city free from ASF after hog raisers were given the go signal to raise piglets to sustain the supply of pork products in the local market.
The capital city was one of the areas in Ilocos Norte that had been previously affected by the viral hog disease.
Last May, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the provincial veterinary office upgraded the city’s status to a “pink (buffer) zone.”
According to the DA, a pink zone could be a previously infected area where the disease has not been detected for at least 90 days.
Pink zones are also areas where there are no cases of ASF but that are adjacent to an infected zone.
More buffer zones
Other than Laoag, the towns of Banna, Piddig, Bacarra, Carasi, Currimao, Dingras, Marcos, Nueva Era, San Nicolas, Sarrat, Solsona, Vintar, Badoc, Burgos, Paoay, Pasuquin, and Batac City were also pink zones, according to the July 15 data from the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry.
Meanwhile, the towns of Adams and Pagudpud were upgraded from pink to yellow zones, the DA said.
Yellow zones are where ASF has been dormant but remains under surveillance for the disease.
ASF has imperiled the Ilocos Norte hog trade, which was valued at around P4.98 billion in 2020, the provincial government said.
The latest market monitoring by the provincial veterinary office showed that pork prices in the capital city ranged from P370 to P380 per kilo.