Various livestock feed millers are feeling the wrath of African swine fever (ASF), with many losing substantial sales revenue as hogs in CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) continue to die because of the infestation of the dreaded virus.

“We are offering ourselves to help to make the inoculation process swifter, as hogs continue to be depleted in CALABARZON due to ASF. Not only that, feed millers are losing 50 percent of their revenues because of the depletion of pigs in the farm and the backyards,” said Rico Geron, CEO of Batangas-based Sorosoro Ibaba Development Cooperative with 73,000 farmer members, half of whom are involved in backyard hog raising.

“We are anticipating that pork meat prices will increase in the coming weeks toward the Holiday Season if the rolling out of the ASF vaccine inoculation process is not done faster. We ask the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the President to tap us so we can help speed up the inoculation process,” he said in a press conference in Manila on Tuesday.

Where to get the vaccines?

For her part, Alice Maraan, the general manager of the 48-year-old Cavite Farmers Feedmilling and Marketing Cooperative, lamented that his group is in a quandary as to where to secure anti-ASF vaccines.

“If our members who are into backyard hog-raising are affected by the ASF, feed millers also suffer. What we want is for the government to doubly speed up the vaccination process,” Maraan said.

Meanwhile, Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. representative Fritz Kenneth Chua, who also owns a livestock farm in Quezon, said the question now is why the inoculation process is taking time.

“The vaccine is readily available and yet the rollout is so sluggish. What is happening?” he asked.

Six-month best-case scenario

AGAP Partylist Representative Nick Briones, for his part, hit the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for being the one he claims is hindering the rollout of the inoculation process.

“They have so many tests to do. The problem is already here, so why are they not acting fast? The lives of our hogs and swine are at stake here, as well our livelihood,” he said.

In a Senate hearing last week, the FDA underscored the need for the vaccines to undergo clinical testing to obtain a Certificate of Product Registration (CPR), as well as clinical testing to ensure their safety and efficacy.

FDA director general, Dr. Samuel Zacate said there are four vaccines for ASF undergoing local clinical trials.

Agriculture Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel Jr. maintained that the DA is working to expedite the approval of vaccines for ASF, which he said could take six months “in the best-case scenario.”

‘We are anticipating that pork meat prices will increase in the coming weeks toward the Holiday Season if the rolling out of the ASF vaccine inoculation process is not done faster. We ask the Department of Agriculture and the President to tap us so we can help speed up the inoculation process.’

“Due to the urgency of the situation, we are consulting with vets and other experts in this field on how to shorten the process of approval and trials. So, my best case is six months from now,” Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

The AGAP Partylist says that based on records of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BAI), as of 6 September, pigs from 14 regions, 31 provinces, 109 municipalities, and 472 barangays have been hit by ASF.

Vietnam’s AVAC ASF Live vaccines

To date, only the AVAC ASF Live vaccine from Vietnam has been approved by the FDA for a limited government-controlled rollout of 10,000 that was allocated in Batangas.

However, Tiu Laurel Jr. last 9 September said the government-controlled vaccination against ASF will be expanded to the Visayas and Mindanao, casting a wider net to include La Union, Quezon, Mindoro, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Cebu in the BAI’s controlled testing of the initial 150,000 doses that have been imported from Vietnam.