Pig industry in Thailand defends itself against ASF
Thailand is stepping up the biosecurity measures to mitigate the ASF risk coming from Cambodia and Laos, countries affected by the outbreaks and share borders with Thailand. Nevertheless, most of the measures are supported by the industry as mentioned in a Genesus global market report.
"The Thai Swine Raisers Association, which is the national grouping of pig farmers in Thailand, is requesting pig farmers across the country to pool the money at a similar rate as the cooperative.
The association is expected to get USD 3.3 million from the donation. This amount of money will be used to buy pigs from backyard farms and poor biosecurity farms along the provinces bordering Laos and Cambodia. This is aiming to set up a buffer zone to prevent the ASF virus to get into the pig production areas that are located farther away from the border," explains Paul Anderson, General Manager SE Asia and International Sales Manager, Genesus Inc.
In addition, some large pig producers in Thailand have started buying pigs from backyard farms located around their premises. These pigs will be slaughtered and kept in the cold storage.
Biosecurity is also being beefed up at abattoirs across the country. The focus is being placed upon substandard abattoirs, which is under control of the local administration. Routine disinfection is being implemented. In some areas such as Ratchaburi province, it is compulsory for all the trucks to be disinfected before loading pigs from the farm and after unloading pigs at the abattoir, added the report.
The country's government recently published an estimate on economic damage that would occur if the ASF virus reaches Thailand. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives asses that if the disease infects 30% of the swine population, the economic damage will total 21.17 billion baht ($672 million). In the scenario of a 50% swine infection rate, the economic damage climbs to 35.28 billion baht ($1.1 billion) while in the 80% infection rate scenario the economic damage reaches 56.45 billion baht ($1.8 billion).
The disease has spread from China to Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in less than a year and is threatening the pig population in the region.
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