EDITORIAL - As relentless as COVID

Like COVID-19, African swine fever has been unstoppable. Latest data from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that only 11 of the 82 provinces in the country can be classified as “dark green” or with zero cases of ASF. The government will have to ensure that the problem does not lead to a shortage of pork, especially during the Christmas holidays.

Since 2019 when the first ASF case was recorded in the Philippines, the local hog industry has lost P200 billion, according to industry estimates. While the ASF virus does not jump to humans, it is lethal to hogs, and can kill the animals quickly from the onset of infection.

When the first cases in the country were confirmed in 2019, in Rizal and Bulacan, the reaction bordered on panic, with backyard hog raisers dumping their diseased pigs in rivers and consequently allowing the virus to spread further. Agricultural checkpoints were set up and government containment teams wore hazmat suits in affected areas.

As it became evident, however, that the meat of ASF-infected hogs remained edible although less saleable because of the diseased appearance, the panic subsided. Perhaps the initial reaction was better than the complacency that ensued. The complacency was aggravated by the entry of COVID by early 2020. All attention and resources were poured into COVID responses. Yet SARS-CoV-2 spread relentlessly across the country, killing, debilitating and infecting millions even after COVID vaccines had arrived.

Also spreading relentlessly was the ASF virus. And like COVID, the effort to stop the spread was stymied by the absence of a vaccine. It didn’t take long for the swine disease to spread from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao.

Even if ASF does not jump to humans and infected meat can be edible, the spread of the virus poses risks to the country’s pork supply. Local producers have repeatedly stressed that pork supply and prices are stable, and will not require a significant increase in imports. Authorities will have to address the issue as they balance the needs of consumers.

Hog and pork producers have suffered enough, and need assistance from the government not only to stop ASF but also to revive the domestic industry.