Hai Duong builds fence to prevent African swine fever

Mr. Bui Huy Hanh's livestock farm in Tai Son commune (Tu Ky) is always closed, not allowing strangers to enter or exit.

High risk

More than 5 years have passed, but people in Hien Thanh Ward (Kinh Mon) still remember the "storm" of African swine fever that swept through the area. In 2019, Hien Thanh Ward was the first locality in the province to have an outbreak of African swine fever. This is also an area assessed to have a high risk of infection because it borders Hai Phong City, where there are many outbreaks of African swine fever.

Mr. Vu Van An, a veterinary officer of Hien Thanh ward, said: “In the ward, there is only one concentrated livestock farm with a scale of about 500 pigs, located far away from residential areas. The number of small-scale pigs raised by the people is only about 100. Determining the risk of swine fever spreading to the ward is very high, the locality has increased propaganda on disease prevention measures. Especially controlling the slaughter and consumption of pork. Currently, the supply of pork is still mainly within the ward and town.”

According to the Agricultural Service Center of Kinh Mon town, the locality currently has more than 41,500 pigs. As an area bordering an epidemic area, to prevent African swine fever, Kinh Mon town has sprayed disinfectants at raw food markets and high-risk public areas; reviewed and summarized the need to use African swine fever vaccines on pork herds. Veterinary staff are assigned to monitor the epidemic in villages and residential areas. Coordinate with specialized agencies and market management to detect, prevent and strictly handle acts of buying, selling, transporting pigs and pork products of unknown origin.

Disinfecting all vehicles entering and leaving to destroy African swine fever pathogens at Mr. Bui Huy Hanh's farm in Tai Son commune (Tu Ky)

Cam Hoang Commune is one of the localities with a relatively large pig herd in Cam Giang District. Therefore, the prevention of African swine fever is a top priority for the locality. The commune has coordinated with the District Agricultural Service Center to review and conduct experimental injections of African swine fever vaccine at a number of small-scale livestock farms in the area. At the same time, it recommends and guides households to implement biosecurity measures to prevent disease.

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from the beginning of 2024 to now, 44/63 provinces and cities have had African swine fever, including provinces and cities bordering Hai Duong such as Quang Ninh, Hai Phong...

Hai Duong province currently has about 303,000 pigs, an increase of 4.6% over the same period last year. Livestock farming is developing in the direction of reducing small-scale farming and increasing concentrated farming. At the conference to discuss solutions to prevent African swine fever hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on July 16, representatives of the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities all assessed that the risk of the epidemic spreading to the province is very high. In addition to the rapid and complicated nature of the epidemic, one of the reasons given is that the situation of selling sick pigs or consuming pork of unknown origin is still happening, requiring active coordination from the grassroots forces. If not resolutely handled, the epidemic will break out and spread widely.

Awareness from the farm owner

Testing African swine fever vaccine in Cam Hoang commune

Nearly a year ago, Mr. Nguyen Van Boi's farm in Pham Xa 2 village, Tuan Viet commune (Kim Thanh) suffered heavy losses when he bought piglets from another province infected with African swine fever. Not only did he lose money, he also had to spend many months disinfecting the farm. Mr. Boi said: "After buying infected piglets, I did not dare to buy piglets from outside but bought 5 sows from the farm for breeding. Being self-sufficient in piglets makes farming safer. Disease prevention is strictly implemented. Outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering the farming area and the farm is disinfected daily. The family's food sources related to pork are not purchased from outside but are "self-sufficient" to ensure that no pathogens from outside enter."

Knowing the limitations of his farm, Mr. Tran Van Tho in Phuong Hoang village, Cam Hoang commune (Cam Giang) agreed to get vaccinated against African swine fever. In early July, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine tested the vaccine on 37 of his family's pigs. "The pigs developed normally after being vaccinated. If the vaccine is effective, it will be a good thing for small-scale farmers like us," said Mr. Tho.

The export and sale of pigs is carried out at a separate gate and is disinfected before, during and after sale.

In large livestock farms, disease prevention is given more priority. With the motto “disease prevention is paramount”, Mr. Bui Huy Hanh’s farm in Tai Son commune has safely overcome many disease outbreaks. This is the largest farm in Tu Ky district with a scale of more than 1,000 sows.

The common point of all farms that have overcome the "storm" of African swine fever is that they have built a solid biological "fence". Farm owners have now "banned" 100% of the farms, absolutely not allowing strangers to enter or leave the farm. Vehicles transporting livestock and animal feed must be sprayed and disinfected thoroughly before loading and unloading goods. The pig import and export gates have a disinfection pit with lime powder and are regularly replenished. Disinfection of pig pens and breeding areas is carried out once a day with strong disinfectants and lime powder. Pig farms are always kept dry and airy, and flies and mosquitoes are sprayed periodically. Workers are assigned to each row of pens, closely monitoring the pig herd to promptly handle any outbreaks.

Mr. Vu Van Hoat, Head of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, said that in addition to implementing biosafety measures in livestock farming, vaccination against African swine fever is also one of the solutions to prevent the disease. Some provinces such as Cao Bang, Lang Son... have deployed large-scale vaccination on pig herds, with an immunity rate of over 90%. In Hai Duong, the unit has conducted evaluation vaccination on pig herds of some small-scale farmers. Currently, the pig herds that have been vaccinated with the experimental vaccine are developing well. Localities are reviewing to request the Provincial People's Committee to support funding to buy disease prevention vaccines for pig herds.

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Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/hai-duong-xay-dung-hang-rao-chan-bao-dich-ta-lon-chau-phi-388776.html