P1 billion in funding to be requested for small-farmer ASF vaccine distribution

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said that it plans to request a P1-billion budget allocation in 2027 for African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccines to be distributed to smallholder farmers.

According to Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel V. de Mesa, “We will not distribute to those who can afford (vaccines); our priority is the smallholders.”

Mr. de Mesa told reporters that AVAC ASF LIVE, the first commercially approved vaccine, has also been imported.

A pending vaccine application from South Korea might not be approved this year, he said.

“I don’t know if the Korean application can be completed by the year, but the last I checked with Agriculture Undersecretary Constante J. Palabrica, it is nearing approval. He told me that after the AVAC vaccine, the Korean vaccine will follow after a few months,” he said.

The Bureau of Animal Industry reported that ASF outbreaks have been reported in 76 of the Philippines’ 82 provinces, cut the national hog population to around eight million head from about 13 million the outbreak hit in 2019, through animal deaths and culls. — Maria Mikaela H. Tormon