Nghe An: African swine fever re-emerges and responsibility from commune level

Difficulties from the grassroots

As reported, from the beginning of the year to the end of July, many localities in Nghe An province have recorded outbreaks of African swine fever with the total number of pigs forced to be destroyed reaching more than 12,000. This is an alarming number, not only causing great damage to the livestock industry, but also warning about the effectiveness of disease prevention and control at the grassroots level.

In fact, the work of preventing and controlling epidemics in livestock farming at the commune level is currently facing certain difficulties. As a result, the epidemic continues to spread, causing heavy losses to the people. In Hoa Quan commune (former Thanh Chuong district), Mr. Nguyen The Cuong - Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune shared: "Although many epidemic prevention measures have been implemented, from destroying pigs to disinfecting, the epidemic still spread to all 28/28 villages and hamlets of the commune, the number of pigs destroyed reached more than 3,000".

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The biggest difficulty is that the local budget is tight, almost every day we have to spend money on pig culling, while the commune only has one non-professional veterinarian, unable to cover a large area.

Mr. Nguyen The Cuong - Chairman of Hoa Quan Commune People's Committee

In Giai Xuan commune (former Tan Ky district), since June, 6.2 tons of pork have been destroyed due to African swine fever. Chairman of the commune People's Committee Bui Duc Hong said: "After the commune was merged, the part-time veterinary staff of the old communes quit their jobs. Therefore, the commune currently has no part-time veterinary staff. When an epidemic occurs, rapid response teams must be mobilized, but there are still many difficulties due to the lack of qualified people."

Quan Thanh Commune (formerly Yen Thanh District) also recorded the number of pigs destroyed reaching 52 tons. Although the commune proactively purchased 5 tons of lime powder, 120 liters of chemicals, and regularly disseminated information on the African swine fever situation through the commune loudspeaker system, the veterinary force was too thin and the budget was limited, making epidemic prevention work face many obstacles.

“As soon as the first cases were detected, the Commune People's Committee quickly took action. A series of directives, telegrams, and disease response plans were issued. Accordingly, the Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control was established, and rapid response teams such as: Destruction Team, Disinfection Team, Patrol Team, Propaganda Team... were simultaneously deployed. Given the continued spread of the disease, the locality hopes that the province will provide additional chemicals and human resources to better control the disease,” Ms. Dang Thi Dung - Chairman of the Quan Thanh Commune People's Committee suggested.

Mr. Pham Van Hien, owner of a 350-pig farm in Hoa Quan commune, shared: "The recent African swine fever epidemic has caused huge losses to farmers. We hope that the authorities will strengthen disease surveillance, especially strictly control the source of pig breeds and input feed. The government needs to support funding for vaccination, periodic disinfection and provide practical technical guidance for farmers to apply. In addition, early information about outbreaks and high-risk areas will help us proactively isolate and reduce the risk of spreading. Most importantly, there is a timely support mechanism when forced to destroy, so that farmers can rest assured to restore their herds."

Faced with the complicated developments of the epidemic, on July 15, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued urgent dispatch No. 20/CD-UBND, requesting relevant levels and sectors to concentrate and mobilize all resources to prevent the risk of widespread spread.

The telegram clearly stated: The Chairmen of the People's Committees of communes and wards must take direct responsibility if the disease breaks out and spreads, causing serious consequences. The telegram also emphasized the requirement to assign specific tasks, strengthen supervision and propaganda, establish mobile inspection teams, and strictly handle violations such as hiding the disease, dumping pig carcasses into the environment, and uncontrolled slaughtering...

Mr. Dang Van Minh - Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine said: The most difficult thing for localities in preventing African swine fever is the large area but lack of veterinary staff.

Before the commune merger, the whole province had 434 part-time veterinary staff, but after the commune merger, more than 300 of these veterinary staff resigned according to Decree 154/CP, and now the whole province has only 134 part-time veterinary staff. Thus, currently there are communes with 1-2 part-time veterinary staff, but there are also communes with no veterinary staff.

Meanwhile, only 12 out of 130 commune-level economic department officials have veterinary expertise. Therefore, localities are currently facing great difficulties in implementing the work of preventing and controlling African swine fever.

Strengthening epidemic response capacity

According to information from the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine: To strengthen the capacity to respond to African swine fever, currently, specialized agencies and local authorities are implementing Decision No. 3385/QD-UBND dated August 31, 2020, approving the plan to prevent and control African swine fever for the period 2020-2025.

Accordingly, the focus is on technical solutions. Veterinary systems at all levels need to regularly monitor and detect outbreaks early for timely handling. When an outbreak occurs, it is necessary to destroy the animals within 24 hours, disinfect and sterilize barns, vehicles, and related equipment.

One important issue is transportation control. All transportation of pigs and pig products must have quarantine certificates. Quarantine checkpoints must be activated immediately at hotspots.

In particular, Decision 3385 emphasizes the application of biosafety farming, the most effective method to prevent diseases from the root. People and businesses are encouraged to switch to closed farming, control inputs and outputs, and limit exposure to pathogens. At the same time, disease-free pig farming areas are built, aiming for export.

Recently, Mr. Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee inspected the work of preventing and controlling African swine fever in some localities. The localities proposed a number of recommendations to the province, in which the province should study maintaining veterinary work in the communes.

Regarding the key tasks and solutions in the coming time for African swine fever prevention, the latest report of the Department of Agriculture and Environment stated that, in order to continue to effectively implement the work of disease prevention and control, and limit the damage caused by the disease, it is necessary to focus on implementing the Plan for disease prevention and control of livestock, poultry and aquatic products in 2025, along with Urgent Telegram No. 20/CD-UBND dated July 15, 2025 on focusing on preventing African swine fever and other dangerous infectious diseases in livestock herds, Urgent Telegram No. 23/CD-UBND dated July 21, 2025 on focusing on drastically and synchronously implementing solutions to prevent ASF.

In particular, the Commune Economic Department must arrange at least 1 civil servant with expertise in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine to advise and implement tasks of animal disease prevention and livestock development. Complete and consolidate the force of part-time veterinary staff at the commune level, ensuring that each commune must have at least 3 veterinary staff or more.

African swine fever is resurging strongly, causing great damage to the livestock industry and people's lives. To control the epidemic, there needs to be a clear and responsible epidemic prevention command system, especially at the commune level./.