Proposal to raise support level for pigs infected with African swine fever to market price

Destroying 1 million pigs will cost 150 million USD

Many opinions say that it is necessary to increase the compensation support for destroying sick pigs to prevent "dumping" that could lead to a widespread outbreak.

Chairman of Dong Nai Livestock Association - Mr. Nguyen Tri Cong emphasized: The current maximum support level for pigs destroyed due to African swine fever is only 38,000 VND/kg. This is the correct support level but is not realistic, no longer suitable in the situation where African swine fever has begun to "heat up".

Pig prices in the North are lower than those in the South, causing traders to increase "pig trading" from North to South.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tri Cong, low compensation levels will discourage farmers from declaring disease outbreaks, and may even lead to a situation of "dumping" pigs, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.

To effectively prevent African swine fever, during an outbreak, the State needs to apply a level of support for destroying diseased pigs close to market prices.

Thus, even though the support level is high, if the epidemic is effectively controlled, the support period will be shorter, the number of pigs that have to be destroyed will also be less, and the State budget expenditure will also be lower.

“A calculation shows that if the epidemic is not controlled soon, if 1 million pigs have to be destroyed, with a total weight of about 100kg/pig, with a support level of 38,000 VND/kg, 1 million pigs will have to spend up to 150 million USD to support farmers. This is a huge amount of money,” said Mr. Nguyen Tri Cong.

Pig price on March 1, 2019.

Many opinions also said that measures to contain the epidemic, spray disinfectants, set up checkpoints, prevent the transportation of pigs from epidemic areas to other areas, etc. have been implemented very drastically, and there has been no situation of pigs being slaughtered and smuggled out.

However, currently along the national highway, every day there are hundreds of trucks transporting pigs from the North to the South because the price of pigs in the North is 10,000 - 15,000 VND/kg higher than the price of pigs in the Southern provinces.

Proposing the Government to increase support for livestock breeders

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the central budget ensures funding for central agencies' activities, including: investigating outbreaks, collecting and testing samples; proactively monitoring ASF virus circulation, gene sequencing, building epidemiological maps; information and propaganda; conferences, seminars, professional training; international cooperation on ASF prevention.

The state budget is allocated for implementation through the annual budget; the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development builds the implementation estimate, synthesizes it in the Ministry's estimate and sends it to the Ministry of Finance for approval by the competent authority. Thus, the total estimated annual budget needs about 25 billion VND.

Destroying pigs infected with African swine fever prevents the spread of the disease.

To effectively prevent and control African swine fever, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed that the Government allow the application of support prices equal to market prices, use the natural disaster prevention and control fund to provide immediate support, and livestock owners do not necessarily have to declare and receive confirmation from the People's Committee at the commune level when raising pigs.

At the same time, allow the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize the construction of international standard veterinary laboratories to proactively diagnose and accurately test animal diseases.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed that the Government call for support from international organizations and countries to support Vietnam in controlling African swine fever; strengthen the capacity of veterinary systems at all levels to have sufficient basis to effectively organize the prevention and control of animal diseases, and control food safety for products of animal origin.