CLARK FREEPORT — Thousands of pigs were reported to have died from African swine flu (ASF) in a huge piggery in Porac, Pampanga.
Porac Mayor Jing Capil revealed this at the Balitaan forum of the Capampangan in Media at Bale Balita here last Friday.. Eric Jimenez of the public affairs office of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) said that during the forum, Capil identified the affected piggery farm as A1 reportedly owned by a Chinese businessman.
“As per Mayor Jing Capil, thousands of pigs died due to ASF. He said the name of the farm is A1 Farm owned by a Chinese businessman. He gave no other details,” Jimenez said after attending the gathering.
The latest update from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that ASF has continued to spread in Asia, with confirmation expected soon of the first cases in Indonesia.
The update reveals new outbreaks were recorded in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, and South Korea and on the Russian side of the Chinese border during the first week of November.
The FAO has reported that some 5,700,000 pigs have already been culled as disease has spread across all 63 regions in Vietnam since the first outbreak was reported in February 2019.
The official ASF figures in China put the number of infected herds at 161 across 32 provinces, with 1,192,000 pigs culled.
However, government figures show the Chinese pig herd has declined by 40 percent since last year, with Rabobank estimating the herd has fallen from in excess of 400 million prior to August 2018 to around 200 million as a result of the disease and herd liquidations.
FAO has also reported that in the Philippines there have been a total of 24 ASF outbreaks in nine provinces and cities on Luzon Island, with nearly 70,000 pigs culled. New cases have been found in Caloocan City and Malabon City in Metro Manila.
The cases in Porac are among the latest ASF cases to be reported.
