Nghe An: People in threatened communes proactively respond to African swine fever

After the announcement of African swine fever appearing at Mr. Hoang Van Lan's household in hamlet 7, Quynh My commune with a total of 22 pigs destroyed, currently, livestock households inside and outside the epidemic area are focusing on disease prevention and containment.

As a neighboring commune, about 1 km away from the epidemic outbreak in Quynh My commune, Mr. Ho Dang Quang's family in hamlet 13, Quynh Lam commune is implementing proactive response and anti-epidemic plans. Mr. Quang's family currently has 70 pigs, weighing from 100 - 110 kg each.

The African swine fever quarantine checkpoint in Quynh My commune (Quynh Luu) is staffed with people to spray disinfectant day and night. Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Quang said that before the African swine fever epidemic appeared in Quynh My, he proactively sprinkled lime powder and sprayed disinfectant around the pig pens. However, since the epidemic appeared near his pig farm, in addition to cleaning the pig pens and sprinkling lime powder, he also built a barrier 500 meters away from the pens to limit vehicles and people from entering and leaving the pens.

"African swine fever spreads very quickly. If not prevented in time when the epidemic appears, it will cause great economic damage. After 4 months of care, if sold, it would still be worth more than 35 million VND. However, due to the epidemic, the family must continue to raise and proactively prevent it," Mr. Quang shared.

People of Quynh Lam commune (Quynh Luu) proactively prevent African swine fever. Photo: Viet Hung

Quynh Lam commune has about 30 pig raising households, of which 3 households raise more than 150 pigs located within a radius of 1 - 1.5 km from the epidemic area. Determining prevention is the most necessary measure, households are currently focusing on responding.

According to a report from the Quynh Luu District Veterinary Station, after announcing the appearance of African swine fever in Quynh My commune, the unit reviewed communes in the epidemic-threatened areas such as Quynh Lam, Quynh Hoa, Ngoc Son and Cau Giat town to have directions. According to preliminary statistics, the 4 border communes currently have about more than 2,000 pigs, most concentrated in Quynh Lam commune with more than 1,000 pigs; Quynh Hoa with 700 pigs..

Faced with the urgency of African swine fever prevention, Quynh Luu Veterinary Station held a meeting and assigned local staff to coordinate with the Veterinary Board of communes to organize disinfection spraying. Before the outbreak of African swine fever in the area, the unit had prepared 600 liters of chemicals to distribute to large-scale farms.

The entire Quynh Luu district has about 42,000 pigs; of which there are 25 farms and households raising pigs. Photo: Viet Hung

"Currently, we are focusing on staff on duty in the epidemic area and neighboring communes to monitor and grasp the situation. At the same time, we request the Provincial Veterinary Department to provide more chemicals for disinfection spraying. For now, we are directing households to buy their own chemicals to spray disinfectants and clean their barns, and sprinkle lime around the barns to prevent epidemics," said Mr. Tran Minh Quan, acting Head of the Quynh Luu District Veterinary Station.

Quynh Luu district is currently setting up two African swine fever quarantine checkpoints in Quynh My commune (the epidemic area) adjacent to National Highway 48B. It is expected that the district will set up more checkpoints in communes threatened by the epidemic to control passing vehicles and prevent the spread of the disease.

Quynh Luu currently has about 42,000 pigs, including 25 pig farms with a total of 9,466 pigs; accounting for 22.5% of the total pig herd of the district. In addition, the district has 87 small-scale pig slaughtering households.