NegOcc guv asks hog raisers to sell early

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Monday urged hog raisers to sell their livestock early as a measure to prevent the spread of hog diseases.

Lacson said that “while there are deaths on a daily basis, the incident per day has gone down already.”

“If you look at the statistics there are like 16 LGUs (local government units) that have experienced mortalities and there are 31 LGUs in the province which is just about fifty percent.”

He added that overall, the hog deaths are just 10 percent of the total hog population.

Lacson stressed that “the measures we are doing is still the same.”

These are the protocols spelled out by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry, he pointed out.

Lacson said he also understands that hog prices have gone down.

“In the meantime, we continue to encourage hog raisers to sell early and not wait for the desired weight, sell early and not to increase population because we would like really to put it under control,” he stressed.

As to the assistance for affected hog raisers the governor said “we are trying to identify kon sin-o gid ang angayan tagaan.”

Lacson earlier announced that the province has allocated P4 million in assistance for affected hog raisers at P2,000 per household.

“It is not much,” he said adding that the Department of Social Development and Welfare will be tapped to distribute the assistance to identified beneficiaries.

Data from the Provincial Veterinary Office showed that the latest count of pig deaths in the province totaled 11,666 with accumulated losses of P131,674,075.