Thousands of Nghe An farming households are left empty-handed due to African swine fever

Pig farming is a source of income for a large number of farming households in the area.Nghe AnCurrently, many families are investing in raising sows, especially because the price of live pigs and breeding pigs is still high. However, when African swine fever broke out again, it left many farming households penniless.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh in Hamlet 8, Dien Thai Commune was heartbroken when her sow died due to an epidemic. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Ms. Pham Thi Xuan's family in Son Ha village, Thanh Linh commune (Thanh Chuong) recently suffered a loss of tens of millions of dong because 8 pigs that were about to be sold were unfortunately infected with an epidemic and had to be destroyed.

Ms. Xuan said that when the epidemic broke out in the commune, her family proactively bought lime powder to disinfect the surrounding barns, but the epidemic still spread to her family's pigs. Now the entire barn system is abandoned, and it is not known when the epidemic will end so that the herds can be repopulated.

In the same situation, on the morning of April 7, Nguyen Thi Nhan and her husband in hamlet 8, Dien Thai commune (Dien Chau) could not help but feel heartbroken because the sow that their family had raised for nearly 2 years, was currently pregnant, but died due to an infection.African swine fever.

Ms. Nhan sadly said: My husband and I are farmers, so raising livestock is our main source of income. This sow gives birth to two litters a year, at least earning 30 million VND, not to mention raising pigs for meat, but 5 days ago it stopped eating and showed symptoms of illness. The pig weighed about 200 kg, worth 15 million VND, and had to be destroyed.

"Currently, there are two pigs weighing nearly 40 kg each in the barn, kept separately in another barn. If they are infected with the disease, the family will lose tens of millions of dong this time," Ms. Nhan worried.

Dien Thai commune officials guide Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhan's family to mix chemicals to spray for disinfection. Photo: Xuan Hoang

In the morning, the Dien Thai commune authorities brought disinfectant chemicals, along with the family's lime powder, and Ms. Hanh and her husband carried out the work.disinfectionfrom the alley into the garden and the entire barn system. At the same time, the local authorities immediately organized the destruction of the dead sow.

Ms. Dinh Thi Trang - Vice Chairman of Dien Thai Commune People's Committee said: This time, African swine fever has occurred in 5 hamlets in the commune, the number of pigs culled is only 12, but the epidemic has persisted in the commune since March, causing hardship for the locality and making farmers worried. To limit the spread of the epidemic, the commune always propagates to the people how to prevent and control the epidemic, and promptly reports to the local authorities when there are sick and dead pigs, for timely handling.

Localities with epidemics need to strictly implement epidemic prevention and control solutions according to regulations of veterinary agencies. Photo: Xuan Hoang

For the whole province, from March 30, 2021 to now, African swine fever has occurred in 1,762 households, 386 hamlets, 145 communes, 19 districts, with a total of 4,794 pigs destroyed, with a total weight of 295,688 kg.

Thus, since the beginning of 2021, thousands of pig farming households in Nghe An have lost everything due to the dangerous pandemic for pigs. Currently, the epidemic is still complicated in many localities, so many more farming families will fall into a similar situation if the people and local authorities do not really take drastic measures to prevent and fight the epidemic./.