Vietnam likens ASF to foreign invasion

Vietnam called for the entire political system to mobilise against ASF

On May 19, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited a household in Tien Duong commune, Dong Anh district, where have the largest burial site for pigs in Hanoi, to monitor the implementation of prevention work and then joined a working session with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Hanoi People’s Committee, the Dong Anh People’s Committee, and households.

According to the PM, the country has about 2.5 million pig breeding households, and there is little in the way of medicine and vaccines to control and prevent the epidemic, which is a particularly resistant strain. These are all favourable conditions for ASF. At present the disease is present at 34 cities and provinces, impacting 5 per cent of the country’s pig population. In particular, there were reports of the disease in all 24 districts of Hanoi, and 10 per cent of the total pig population had to be buried.

The PM visited households in Tien Duong commune

“In cities and provinces yet untouched by ASF, local authorities need to strictly monitor the work to prevent the epidemic. In disease-free localities, the veterinary teams have to support households to bury pigs, ensuring transparency and environmental safety,” said PM Phuc.

The PM also asked the veterinary sector to support households so far free of ASF to sell pork, educate people that 95 per cent of the pig population is still safe, helping to avoid a full boycott of pork. Besides, the sector has to build plans to shift to breeding other livestock to ensure a steady and safe supply of meat, especially towards the end of the year.

At the working session, the chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee said that the city has 1.87 million pigs. As of now, the epidemic has been found at 9,465 households and 147,700 animals have been buried. The epidemic has also found its way to large-scale pig farms raising more than 200 pigs each.