Pig farmers face huge challenge in swine fever battle

HARBIN: Even after 14 outbreaks of African swine fever across China in just over a month, pig farmer Wang Wu does not believe the threat to his livelihood is real.

“I heard about the African swine fever thing. But then people said it was just rumour. It was fake news,” said Wang, who raises about 60 pigs in a village near Harbin, capital of China’s north-eastern Heilongjiang province.

In any case, the disease was only present in the south, added Wang.

In fact, the first outbreak was reported in Shenyang, also in the north-east. And Harbin is only 500km from Russia, where African swine fever (ASF) has been spreading for years.

The farmer’s lack of awareness of the virus highlights the scale of the challenge Beijing faces in controlling the highly contagious disease, which has spread rapidly among the world’s largest hog herd since it was first detected in early August.

There is no vaccine for ASF and mortality rates can be as high as 100%. The virus is also hardy, surviving for months in pork, feed or swill. It is not harmful to humans.

In an effort to check the spread of the virus, authorities have banned the transport of live hogs from and through affected areas, sending prices in some regions soaring.

But while industrialised pig producers in China have locked down their farms, cancelling leave for staff who live onsite and reducing feed deliveries and outside visitors who risk spreading the virus to their pigs, many small pig farmers interviewed by Reuters in the past week have done nothing to keep the disease at bay.

That is likely a major reason for the number of outbreaks on farms of a similar size to Wang’s, say experts.

“You have to know what the risks are,” said an animal health expert at one of China’s biggest pig producers.

“If a small farmer isn’t aware, he can’t manage those risks.”

Farmers producing fewer than 500 pigs a year accounted for 42% of China’s production in 2016, according to a research report from Rabobank.

In eastern Anhui province, which has reported the most cases to date, there are still few large farms compared with other regions, said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at the bank.