Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: African swine fever is becoming more complicated

View of the meeting. Photo: Thu Giang

Speaking at the regular meeting of the Provincial People's Committee in June 2019, Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee noted that the growth rate in the first 6 months of 2019 was lower than the same period in 2017 and 2018, while the target set for the whole year was relatively high (9.5%).

"Therefore, this is a very important meeting, a forum for sectors and localities to review recent results and limitations, thereby proposing stronger and more drastic solutions to complete the 2019 goals, the goals set by the Party Congress" - the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized.

In his discussion, the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the production value of agriculture, forestry and fishery in the first 6 months of the year only reached 4.03%, "almost" reaching the target set by the Party Congress but not reaching the growth scenario of 5%.

Mr. Hieu explained that in the three sectors, forestry and fishery have achieved good results, but their output only accounts for about 20% of the total output of the sector. Meanwhile, the agricultural sector has achieved low results, which is largely due to the complicated developments of African swine fever. To date, 58/63 provinces and cities have had the disease, 9% of the total pig herd in the country has been destroyed, but there is still no sign of stopping because a vaccine has not been found to prevent the disease.

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Nghia Hieu affirmed that Nghe An has been actively fighting African swine fever. Photo: Thu Giang

In Nghe An, according to Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu, the work of disease prevention and control is being implemented very vigorously: "By 5:00 p.m. on June 20, there were 4,881 pigs infected with the disease, equivalent to 0.5% of the province's total herd. The provincial People's Committee, departments and branches are very concerned, the funding is relatively adequate, the province has held 4 meetings on disease prevention and control. As of June 19, 19 inspection teams have been established in localities."

However, actual inspections show that in many areas such as Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, etc., many checkpoints are not secure and do not meet standards (only lime powder, straw, stubble, etc.) were spread. In the early stages of the epidemic, in some mountainous districts, people slaughtered sick pigs and washed the meat right in streams and creeks, so the epidemic spread very quickly through water sources.

Faced with this situation, Nghe An is currently drastically limiting pathogens in the environment, through spraying chemicals, spreading lime powder, disinfecting, sterilizing, especially focusing on large farms, "nothing in or out", to control and maintain the infection rate in the total herd at a low level compared to the whole country.

The Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development added that although the damage caused by the epidemic to the total herd was not too large, it affected the growth of the industry through the price of pork sliding by 20%, and farmers could not sell their pigs.

Professional agencies destroy pigs infected with African swine fever in Luc Da commune, Con Cuong district. Photo: Ba Hau

Frankly identifying difficulties, in the coming months, the industry is committed to focusing on overcoming natural disasters, fighting drought, floods, and epidemics, encouraging farmers to overcome damage, ensuring production, stabilizing growth, and striving to achieve the industry's growth scenario of 5% in 2019.