Xuan Dong commune, Cho Gao district is currently an outbreak of African swine fever in Tien Giang with more than 1,000 infected animals destroyed, many farmers are empty-handed and in debt.
At noon in November, during the peak of the epidemic, the roads leading to Xuan Dong commune were arranged with 4 control posts, each assigned 3 or 4 officers to be on duty day and night. In addition, although the two ferry wharves passing through the commune do not have quarantine checkpoints, the locality has asked the wharf owners to commit not to transport pigs into or out of the locality.
“Vehicles carrying cattle, poultry and animal feed are stopped for inspection and sprayed with disinfectant before they can pass through the station,” the veterinary officer at the checkpoint explained.
The road to Xuan Dong commune currently has 4 quarantine checkpoints. Image: Hoang Nam
In the Tan Ninh hamlet area, in the early afternoon, a group of commune officials wearing protective equipment was preparing a record of weighing the total pig herd at people’s houses. This is the 6th herd on November 22 that they had to destroy due to signs of infection.
Watching the herd of 8 pigs being thrown into the fire one by one, Ms. Bui Thi Hy, 48 years old, could not help but feel sad. Ms. Hy has raised pigs for more than 20 years. Nearly 10 years ago, her herd of nearly a hundred pigs suffered from blue ear disease, and her family lost about 500 million VND and has not yet paid it off. After a period of leaving the barn empty, in recent years, Ms. Hy dared to thin her pigs again.
According to the homeowner, the herd of nearly 60 pigs costs more than one million VND per day for food. Ms. Hy’s family plans to use the fees to pay part of the old debt, food, and breeding stock after the sale, while the rest covers living expenses and raising children in their first year of university.
However, when there was more than a month left for slaughter, an epidemic began to appear in the area, forcing many farmers to sell off at cheap prices. Concerned about the epidemic spreading, Mrs. Hy urged her husband to buy vaccination but it was still ineffective. About a week ago, the infected pigs started to stop eating, and nearly 30 pigs had to be destroyed. The family currently only has hope for the remaining herd of nearly 20 pigs, but with the complicated epidemic situation, everything is now uncertain.
“The old debt is about 300 million VND, plus about 100 million in losses this time. Maybe next time he and I will run out of capital and have to sell lottery tickets to support our children,” Ms. Hy said sadly.
Ms. Hy with a sad face owes about 400 million VND after two epidemics. Image: Hoang Nam
3 km away, Mr. Le Van Hieu had 7 pigs, total weight of nearly 400 kg, which were just destroyed. Holding the receipt in hand, Mr. Hieu explained that according to state regulations, the farmer will be supported 38,000 VND for each kilogram of pigs destroyed. He and his wife sold green rice cakes and saved money to build a pig herd. After the epidemic, the family only had 2 sows left, a loss of tens of millions of dong.
Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi, Chairman of Xuan Dong Commune People’s Committee, informed that the locality has a tradition of raising pigs, with a herd of over 55,000 pigs during peak periods. After many epidemics, farming households lost money, so the number of herds was reduced to about 10,000 animals.
A month ago, the epidemic began to break out with an unknown source of infection. Xuan Dong commune became an epidemic hot spot when there was a large number of infected cases, accounting for half of the total cases in the province, and had to be declared an epidemic more than a week ago. More than 1,000 pigs from 40 households were destroyed. Farmers were afraid of selling them off to reduce losses, so the total herd now only has more than 6,000 pigs. This locality is helping people spray and disinfect barns and collect wastewater to limit the spread to other areas.
Workers destroy a herd of infected pigs at the Xuan Dong commune outbreak on the afternoon of November 22. Image: Hoang Nam
According to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Tien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the whole province has a total herd of 300,000 pigs. In addition to Tan Phu Dong, Cai Lay districts and Go Cong town, currently the remaining 8 districts have had a total epidemic of more than 2,000 animals, of which half have been culled.
The veterinary industry believes that importing infected pigs, supplies, water sources, and unvaccinated pigs could be the cause of the outbreak. To limit the spread, the veterinary industry recommends that large-scale livestock facilities should let employees eat and sleep on site, and farm owners should take pigs out and let traders watch and buy via camera instead of coming directly.
Xuan Dong commune is currently an outbreak in Tien Giang. Video: Hoang Nam
African swine fever first appeared in Africa in 1921, with a 100% mortality rate. There have been more than 4,000 research projects related to the cholera virus and vaccine development by scientists published, but there is no commercial vaccine to prevent the epidemic. In Vietnam, this epidemic broke out 4 years ago. From the beginning of the year until now, the country has had 522 outbreaks in 44 provinces and cities, and nearly 24,000 infected pigs have been destroyed.
In June last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced that Vietnam was the first country to successfully produce an African swine fever vaccine. The trade name of the vaccine is Navet-Asfvac produced by the Central Veterinary Medicine Joint Stock Company (Navetco). Navet-Asfvac vaccine is capable of protecting 100% of vaccinated pigs and under production conditions has protected over 80% of pigs with an immunity period of 6 months after vaccination.
Hoang Nam