African swine fever is raging, farmers in Tan Phu commune (Nghe An) are in dire straits.
These days, in Tan Phu commune (Nghe An), it is not difficult to see empty pig pens with locked farm gates. African swine fever has re-emerged and is raging fiercely, the commune has had to destroy 140 tons of pigs.
Abandoned barns, farmers in dismay
On the morning of September 4, Tan Phu commune authorities coordinated with local militia forces to destroy the pigs of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thuan's family in Duc Thinh hamlet.
Mr. Thuan sadly said that his family had 7 pigs for meat, which they had raised for nearly 2 months. However, in just a few days, the pigs suddenly stopped eating, developed high fevers, and died en masse.
“The family hoped to sell this batch of pigs to pay off the bank loan, but now they have to witness the whole herd stop eating and lie around. Because there is an epidemic in the residential area, the hamlet and commune authorities determined that the whole herd was infected with African swine fever and had to be destroyed,” Mr. Thuan sadly shared.
Not only Mr. Thuan's family but also many other households in Duc Thinh hamlet in particular and Tan Phu commune in general are in a similar situation. Mr. Nguyen Van Thai - head of Duc Thinh hamlet said: According to preliminary statistics, from the beginning of July until now, the whole hamlet has destroyed more than 10 tons of pigs, currently in the hamlet there are 20 households raising pigs in the form of family farms. In the face of the African swine fever epidemic, all farms absolutely prohibit people from entering or leaving the barn area; at the same time, lime powder is sprinkled and disinfectant chemicals are sprayed in front of the gate and around the barn.
Previously, in Ha Suu hamlet, Tan Phu commune authorities destroyed 130 pigs weighing nearly 6 tons belonging to Mr. Le Anh Nghia's family. This is considered the largest epidemic in Tan Phu commune since the beginning of 2025.
Mr. Le Anh Nghia expressed: “The price of feed and veterinary medicine has increased, now that the epidemic has swept through, all our efforts have been wasted. We hope the government will soon have support policies to help us overcome this difficult period.”
The government is working hard to fight the epidemic.
Immediately after recording the outbreak, the People's Committee of Tan Phu commune directed villages and hamlets to immediately implement epidemic prevention and control measures, prohibiting people from transporting livestock in and out. Veterinary forces coordinated with people to destroy diseased pigs according to regulations, sprinkle lime powder and spray disinfectant around the livestock area.
According to data from the People's Committee of Tan Phu Commune, at the beginning of 2025, the total pig herd in the commune was nearly 7,000, but African swine fever has caused that number to decrease significantly after only 8 months. A worrying fact is that in recent days, almost every day the commune has had to send forces to the hamlets to support the destruction of infected pigs.
Since the beginning of June, Tan Phu commune has destroyed 2,039 pigs from 266 households, with a total weight of approximately 140 tons; of which, 256 were sows, the rest were boars, meat pigs and breeding pigs.
Mr. Vi Van Quang - Chairman of Tan Phu Commune People's Committee said: "The commune has activated the Steering Committee for epidemic prevention and control, mobilizing all forces to take part. Inspection and supervision work has been strengthened to prevent the epidemic from spreading to other households. However, due to erratic weather, pathogens persist in the environment for a long time, so the risk of a large-scale outbreak is very high."
Despite drastic measures, according to Mr. Quang, the biggest difficulty now is funding to support the destruction and herd restoration. Up to this point, the locality has allocated 250 million VND from the budget to buy materials for disease prevention and control and pig destruction: buying chemicals, lime powder, protective gear... "People have lost all their capital, if there is no timely support mechanism, they will no longer be able to continue raising animals," Mr. Vi Van Quang shared.
For the people of Tan Phu commune, pig farming is the main source of income for many families. The epidemic not only causes people to lose their income, but also has a strong impact on their livelihoods and the economic development of the locality.
It is known that currently, African swine fever continues to rage in many communes in Tan Ky district (old) such as: Giai Xuan, Nghia Dong, Nghia Hanh... When pigs are infected with African swine fever, the only measure is still mandatory destruction and strict sanitation and disinfection.
Experts say that to minimize damage, local authorities need to focus on zoning and quickly suppressing the epidemic, while at the same time implementing timely support policies for livestock farmers. In the long term, people need to change their small-scale farming practices, switch to bio-safety farming, have secure barns, and limit the risk of disease recurrence.
