KUCHING: The government needs to put more effort into encouraging farms affected by the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak to repopulate pig herds in order to tackle the shortage of fresh local pork supply.
Sarawak Livestock Breeders Association committee member Dr Ng Siew Thiam said with the highly virulent and contagious viral disease still around, no one would want to restart or venture into the pig farming business.
He said there was no guarantee of profit for pig farmers as once a farm is infected with ASF, the entire premises has to be sealed off and all pigs have to be culled.
“It is like a ‘high risk low return’ business for now. So, who would want to rear pigs now?” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
“Some farmers even decided to cull all the pigs and depopulate their farms while others were forced to close after being affected by ASF,” he said.
Ng felt that setting a ceiling price would be a temporary measure to prevent any further price hike of the local fresh pork however, it would not help address the issue of the shortage or unstable supply.“Even if there is a ceiling pric
e there is still not enough supply of local fresh pork because people just don’t rear pigs (for now),” he added.
Thus, Ng stressed that it was necessary to look into increasing the supply, which was to encourage more people (venture into) to rear pigs or repopulation programmes by providing various subsidies and enhancing bio-security measures.
“The government needs to ensure it (pig farming) is a profitable business and safe to restart pig farming by offering various subsidies or financial aids for pig farmers,” he explained.
On the compassionate assistance amounting to RM5.6 million to more than 390 pig farmers who were affected by ASF in 2022, Ng said that it was to compensate those who had been facing huge losses due to the disease.
“It is not a subsidy to encourage pig farmers to repopulate pig herds,” he said.
He believed that once the supply is stable and sufficient, the price will eventually come down.
On the proposal to set a ceiling price for local fresh pork, Ng said it is okay for the short term but any long term price control will destroy the whole industry as more might decide to cease operation or reduce production.
ASF had spread to most parts of the state since it was first detected in backyard pig farms in Buduk Bui, Lawas, in July in 2021. Most of the farms affected by the disease had poor or no bio-security measures.
As of November last year, some 6,000 animals owned by over 800 backyard pig farmers have been culled and disposed while a culling exercise involving 31,130 animals from 34 commercial farms was also carried out.
Since there is no treatment or vaccines available to treat or control ASF, an entire farm must be sealed off, while the pigs are culled and buried on site. The farm needs to be depopulated or emptied for 40 days before a new batch of animals can be brought in.
It is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, and the mortality rate can reach 100 per cent.
It is not a danger to human health, but it has a devastating impact on the pig population and the farming industry.
