ILOILO CITY—The Iloilo provincial government will implement the sentineling program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) at the barangay level with 47 growers from 19 villages to undergo validation by the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian.
The sentineling program will determine the readiness of an area to proceed with the recovery and repopulation after being infected by African swine fever (ASF).
“All 27 (affected) municipalities were advised to validate barangays that can possibly qualify for the sentineling program. Only Ajuy and Sta. Barbara have submitted for now. Some municipalities are not yet ready,” said Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada in an interview.
To qualify for the sentineling, the municipality must have had no outbreak for the past 40 days, have no available swine in the barangay, or if there is must be included in the program and subjected to surveillance, have put in place biosecurity measures, the conduct of cleaning and disinfection were supervised by the Municipal Agriculture Office and must have their own ASF ordinance.
Tabuada said qualified farmers and barangays would be endorsed to the DA next month because the national government agency would be the one to implement the sentineling program.
Each qualified farmer will receive three piglets and a two-month supply of feeds.
The swine farmers were from barangays Central, Progreso, Culasi, Silagon, Pedada, Pili, Poblacion, San Antonio, Barrido, Pinantan Diel, Santo Rosario, Malayuan, Puente Bunglas, Tanduyan, Luca, Pinay and Espinosa in Ajuy while in Sta. Barbara those endorsed were from San Sebastian, Nasugban and Cadagmayan Norte.
Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon said the province is trying to observe and learn the nature of ASF while addressing the concern.
“We want to recover the inventory because before we were 289 percent sufficient. Generally, we are in the process of recovery,” he said.
As of June 29, the municipalities of Sta. Barbara, Alimodian, Leganes, Barotac Viejo, Mina, Badiangan, Barotac Nuevo, Dumangas, San Dionisio and Zarraga have no reported cases for the past two months.
The province’s latest reported case was in the municipality of Bated on May 23, 2023.