4,000 hogs in Talikud Island culled due to ASF

AROUND 4,000 hogs in Talikud, a small island off the Island Garden City of Samal, have been culled due to African Swine Fever (ASF), according to Samal Mayor Al David T. Uy. “The implementation of the restrictions is ongoing. No hogs or pork-related products can enter or exit Talikud island,” he said in an interview. The production damage is estimated at around P10 million. Mr. Uy said the rehabilitation program has started and financial assistance has been extended to the 400 backyard swine raisers affected by the ASF outbreak. The local government of Samal distributed cash aid in addition to the P5,000 per pig allocated under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Davao regional office. The DA-Davao also set P3 million for goat dispersal as an alternative livelihood to the affected farmers. The ASF outbreak on Talikud was first confirmed in November last year. DA-Davao is currently assessing the timing for the region’s hog repopulation program. “We have fund allocation for hog repopulation but we need to study if repopulation is already viable at this time since the virus is just around the corner and may again infect our hog dispersal,” Regional Technical Director for Operations and Extension Marila L. Corpuz said in a statement earlier this month. She said they are evaluating the affected areas, starting with Davao Occidental, the first province in the region to have confirmed ASF cases in February last year. Outbreaks were also recorded in parts of Davao City, Davao Oriental, and Davao del Norte. —