The number of African swine fever cases in the Philippines has significantly declined, Agriculture Secretary, William Dar said on Friday.
Dar added that the hog disease is now confined to three regions.
He told a Senate budget committee hearing that the highly contagious disease might stay “if we don’t observe health and quarantine protocols’’.
He said the African swine fever has ravaged the hog industry in the Southeast Asian country since the outbreak in 2019 and spread to 12 regions of the country at its peak last year.
The government said the disease has significantly reduced the country’s swine population by around three million, resulting to more than 100 billion pesos ($2 billion) losses to the local hog farming sector and related industries.
The situation has also led to increases in the retail price of pork products, forcing the government to increase pork imports.
In May, Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire country under a calamity state for one year to address the impact of the contagious hog disease. (Xinhua/NAN)
