Nearly 6 million pigs destroyed due to African swine fever

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Acting Director of the Department of Livestock Production (MARD): “African swine fever is dangerous and not easy to control. It is not justified. I sometimes can't sleep. We think of ways to inform people and businesses. I am temporarily satisfied with our efforts.”

Ensuring biosafety is the most effective way to deal with African swine fever. Photo: Internet.

“Broken out” in epidemic prevention

Speaking at the seminar on "Development of animal husbandry: combating African swine fever" organized by the Government Web portal this afternoon, November 26, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong said: “As of November 25, African swine fever (ASF) has appeared in 8,533 communes and 166 districts of 63 provinces, causing the death and culling of 5.9 million pigs.”

About 4,823 previously affected communes have now gone 30 days without another outbreak. However, in November there were 146 communes suffering from the disease again. The disease control is good but the problem has not stopped.

“After nearly one year, ASF has caused great losses to the livestock industry. Firstly, it causes losses to pig farmers and later causes losses to the State budget to support the livestock sector. The livestock industry has never suffered so much damage,”said Mr. Duong.

From a local perspective, Mr. Nguyen Huy Dang, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, also said: “ASF has destroyed 30% of the pigs in Hanoi, causing a loss of about VND1,000 billion.”

Regarding the issue of whether or not Vietnam's epidemic prevention system "broke down", while ASF has been forecasted a year before, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong said that this view is unfounded.

According to Duong, China has a total of 600 million pigs, the number of pigs culled by the disease is nearly half. The price of pigs in China has now reached VND150,000/kg. Meanwhile, Vietnam has only destroyed nearly 6 million pigs.

“The assumption that Vietnam is “broken” is not right because we have participated in a very fierce fight from the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Government, the ministries and the branches. Vietnam has learned all lessons from around the world to apply. We have been quite proactive, we have guidelines, rehearsals and scenarios to deal with. However, this disease is of a complex nature, out of control,” Mr. Duong said.

Pork prices have fallen

At the seminar, the issue that received a lot of attention was the rapid increase in pork prices. Specifically, the price of live hog is at VND69,000-80,000/kg, the market price of pork soared to VND140,000-180,000/kg. Especially at a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City, the price of pork is listed at VND280,000/kg, higher than the price of beef.

Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said: “The agriculture sector has reported to the Prime Minister about the lack of pork supply. The cause of this shortage has affected the price of pigs to consumers.”

“In the market, where the supply is lacking, the price is high, the price in some places will increase locally,” Mr. Tuan said.

According to Mr. Tuan, recently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed the Department of Industry and Trade to closely follow processing enterprises and slaughtering areas, controlling and ensuring safety to bring out quality products, while ensuring the price.

“This morning, we exchanged with some localities with large supply such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Hung Yen, Binh Duong, wholesale markets, big slaughterhouses in these areas and neighboring provinces. At the moment, the price of live hogs is stable, not increasing. CP company quotes the price of live hogs at VND69,000/kg. Transporting to other places, the price is up to VND70,000-73,000/kg,” Mr. Tuan said.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong said that recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has invited 13 livestock businesses that account for the largest market share and representatives of eight key livestock provinces of the country to review the situation.

By October, the price of live hog was still at VND41,000-43,000/kg. In November, the price has risen for two weeks. Currently, businesses agree to keep the price around VND65,000-68,000/kg. For example, in BacGiang, JSC sells at VND68,000/kg, while some of sellers still quote the price at VND75,000/kg.

A total of 13 enterprises agreed with the Ministry and the Government to keep prices stable.