Vietnam culls 4.7 million pigs as African swine fever spreads

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Vietnam culls 4.7 million pigs as African swine fever spreads

 

Pigs are seen at a farm outside Hanoi, Vietnam June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Kham/Files

 

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has culled about 4.7 million pigs to contain an outbreak of African swine fever that has spread to all 63 provinces in the Southeast Asian country, an official said on Friday.

 

The disease first detected in February has been hard to contain because there is no vaccine, said Pham Van Dong, head of the Animal Health Department.

 

"We have culled around 4.7 million pigs and, as you can see, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has confirmed that the outbreak has now spread to all 63 provinces and cities," Dong told Reuters.

 

Pork accounts for three-quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 96 million people where most of its farm-raised pigs are consumed domestically.

 

Vietnam's pig herd at end July was down 18.5% to 22.2 million pigs since December.

 

The pork industry is valued at 94 trillion dong ($4 billion) a year, or nearly 10% of the country's agricultural sector.

 

Farm hygiene is the best way to protect the pig herd, deputy agriculture minister Phung Duc Tien told the Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper.

 

"Applying biosecurity in farming will help meet domestic demand for pork through the end of this year and help keep consumer prices under control," Tien was quoted as saying.

 

African swine fever was first detected in Asia last year in China, the world's largest pork producer. China's pig herd shrank by 32.2% in July from the same month a year ago.

 

($1 = 23,198 dong)

 

(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; editing by Darren Schuettler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-09

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[30la]

We continue to impose our will on nature, we cause diseases that force us then to suppress millions of innocent animals!
And fortunately we are the INTELLIGENT species!????

[justin case]

i'm pretty sure that there will be a smart & rich thai businessman to go import those culled pigs at a fraction of the cost and mingle them into his own supply... dead pigs don't .... whatever excuse to bring in more money

[Almer]

That meat will not all be buried or incinerated for sure

[natway09]

I certainly hope the Thai Ag authorities have got a handle on this.

This is so serious (just next door) that closing the border to all agricultural imports is in order

[annabel]

Really sickening and yu are so right!!!

On 9/9/2019 at 7:35 AM, 30la said:

We continue to impose our will on nature, we cause diseases that force us then to suppress millions of innocent animals!
And fortunately we are the INTELLIGENT species!????