Thanh Hoa ready to respond to African swine fever outbreaks

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, up until now, over 530 outbreaks of African swine fever have appeared nationwide, forcing the destruction of over 20,000 pigs in 44 provinces and cities. Provinces adjacent to Thanh Hoa such as Ninh Binh, Nghe An, Son La, Hoa Binh all have signs of epidemics, but so far the situation has not been under control.

The disease seems to have aggressive developments, mostly in provinces and cities with large pig herds, negatively affecting the economic efficiency of livestock farms, the environment, and the food source in general.

To proactively prevent and control the African swine fever epidemic promptly and effectively, the Chairman of Thanh Hoa People's Committee has issued an official telegram on the drastic and synchronous implementation of prevention and control solutions against this harmful disease.

Regarding the telegram’s content:

Leaders of Thanh Hoa province request Chairmen of People's Committees of districts, towns and cities, Directors of Departments, Heads of relevant provincial departments and branches to focus on directing and organizing drastic, synchronous and effective measures to prevent and control African swine fever in accordance with the Prime Minister's directives.

People's Committees of districts, towns and cities directly mobilize resources in the area to organize and implement drastic, synchronous and effective solutions to prevent and control African swine fever. Local authorities deploy disease surveillance forces to promptly control the situation when new African swine fever outbreaks appear and prevent the disease from spreading.

Focus on organizing general cleaning, disinfection, and environmental detoxification monthly to eliminate all types of pathogens.

Intrust livestock farmers on increasing the application of hygiene and disinfection measures such as using lime powder and chemicals in farming areas and surrounding high-risk areas, promoting bio-safe livestock farming, and building disease-free livestock facilities.

Urgently review and organize vaccinations to prevent infectious diseases in pigs. Carry out disease prevention according to the instructions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Strengthen the management of transportation, slaughter, and trading of cattle and poultry meat. Timely detect and strictly handle violations in trading and transporting pigs and pig products.

Proactively use the reserve budget to support disease prevention and control work. Allocate funds to fully prepare supplies, tools, disinfectant chemicals, lime powder, and vaccines for timely response and stop outbreaks right from the early stage.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development focuses on directing, organizing, guiding, and inspecting African swine fever prevention and control work in localities. Proactively monitor the disease situation, ensure early detection, thoroughly handle outbreaks and prevent the spread of the disease.

Establish working groups to organize inspections and urge localities to strictly implement regulations on African swine fever prevention and control. Direct Sub-department of Livestock Production and Animal Health to strengthen sampling and monitoring of African swine fever to promptly detect and warn the risk of epidemics. Establish rapid response teams to provide guidance on the complete handling of outbreaks as soon as they appear, preventing them from spreading to a large area.

After Thanh Hoa People's Committee issued the official telegram, localities in the province proactively developed plans to prevent African swine fever with the motto "preventing the disease is better than handling the disease."

According to Le Tien Dat, Head of the Office of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nhu Xuan District, there are currently 9 pig farms in operation, summing up to tens of thousands of pigs and sows. The district has assigned officials to guide livestock households on epidemic prevention work according to regulations.

“Localities are ready with supplies on-site to respond if an epidemic occurs. For small-scale livestock farmers, we recommend increasing the frequency of disinfectant spraying of barns, strengthening surveillance, and aiming for bio-safe and closed livestock farming models," said Dat.

Thanks to proactive disease monitoring and readiness to prevent epidemics, Thanh Hoa province has not recorded any outbreak of African swine fever at present. The total pig herd in the area still maintains a stable headcount.