Over 800 farmers to benefit from Capitol’s sentinel piglets

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

A total of 831 hog raisers are set to benefit from the sentinelling program of the provincial government of Iloilo for African swine fever (ASF).

The over 800 swine farmers will come from the 10 towns that were upgraded from a red zone to a pink zone status for ASF.

“We have municipalities that have already graduated from the infected zone. They are now ready for our sentinelling program, our trial where we give piglets to our qualified beneficiaries to test whether we can already boost our swine production,” said Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. in a press conference on Wednesday.

“That is our map in the continuing narrative on our recovery program on the ASF,” he added.

The towns identified as beneficiaries of the sentinelling program include Banate, Batad, Barotac Viejo, Concepcion, Dingle, Mina, New Lucena, Oton, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) is still awaiting the same declaration for the towns of Leganes, Janiuay, Lambunao, Dumangas, and Zarraga.

Batad recorded the highest number of farmer beneficiaries with 307, Oton has 288, Santa Barbara has 60, San Miguel has 52, and Dingle has 37.

The list of qualified farmer beneficiaries shall be validated by the Municipal Agriculture Office and submitted to the PVO, according to Defensor.

In its guidelines, the farmers must also be registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture of the national government.

The guideline requires farms to adhere to DA standards for animal waste disposal, as well as meet minimum biosecurity and housing facility standards for both commercial and small-hold swine farms.

The provincial government has allocated P8.3 million for the procurement of swine.

The procurement of two sentinel piglets for each farmer to rear will be downloaded to the funds of the affected municipalities.

Defensor clarified that the sentinelling program of the province is different from that of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

He, however, did not detail the differences in the province’s approach compared to the DA.

The governor further clarified that beneficiaries in the province’s sentinelling program remain eligible for DA-provided sentinel pigs.

As of April 15 this year, 18 towns in the province remain under the red zone category.