P22-M given to ASF-affected CagVal folks

BAMBANG, Nueva Vizcaya -- More than P22 million in indemnification cash assistance was released to Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) farmers, who suffered from the dreaded African swine fever (ASF), the Dept. of Agriculture (DA)-Region 2 livestock division said last week.
    According to Dr. Manny Galang of the DA-Region 2 livestock division, they released P13.7-million indemnification fund for the ASF first wave during the first half of last year and P8.4 million for the second wave has been released.
    The first ASF wave in the Cagayan Valley region covered February to June 2020, while the second wave covered July 2020 to March 2021.
    Galang noted that the division is yet to receive more than P161-million indemnification funds to be released to other affected farmers by the surge of cases during the second half of 2020.

“We are also hoping that our request for another P15 million for the indemnification of farmers whose hogs were culled this first quarter of 2021 will soon be released,” he said.

Dr. Roberto Busania, DA Region 2 technical director for operations, has identified the province of Isabela that has the greatest number of hogs affected by ASF in the Cagayan Valley region, except for the province’s four coastal towns of Maconacon, Divilacan, Palanan and Dinapigue.

Cagayan Valley comprises the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and the ASF-free island province of Batanes.

Of the total number of pigs culled from July 2020 to March 2021, Isabela province has the highest number of pigs culled with 31,669, or 72.37 percent, followed by Cagayan province with 7,346 culled pigs, or 16.41 percent, Quirino province with 3,047 culled pigs, or 6.96 percent, and Nueva Vizcaya province with 2,727 culled pigs, or 6.18 percent.

“A strict bio-security measure is being implemented in all the towns of Isabela for three months now without any reported cases of ASF, thus we can start recovery, rehabilitation and repopulation programs in the province,” Busania said.

He added the DA Region 2 office has also urged local governments and communities to cooperate with the agriculture department’s efforts in monitoring and stopping the entry of hogs and swine products that may be contaminated with the disease, which will cause the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Narciso Edillo, DA Region 2 executive director, said the second wave of ASF virus infection in the region that started in July 2020 already affected 7,639 farmers in the Cagayan Valley region, resulting in the culling of 44,789 pigs.

Edillo added that Region 2 has an estimated 262,875 population of hogs with a total ASF mortality of 75,842 hogs, or 28.85 percent, as of March 12.

He said a total of 67 municipalities, or 549 barangay (villages) in the other four provinces in the region, were affected by the ASF virus.