CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/30 September) – The city government has imposed a ban on all pork and pork products coming from other regions to protect Northern Mindanao’s hog production from being contaminated with the African Swine Fever.
The order signed by City Mayor Oscar Moreno also discouraged hog raisers from feeding their animals with leftovers from restaurants and diners.
Juliet Araos, Department of Agriculture Northern Mindanao spokesperson for the African Swine Fever Task Force aid they have not detected any hog that got sick in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao.
“It is more of prevention. We want to protect our hogs from being infected,” Araos said.
Northern Mindanao along with Calabarzon and Central Luzon are the country’s top hog-producing regions in 2019.
The three region accounted for 47.84 percent of the country’s total hog production of 649.68 thousand metric tons in 2017.
Last September 11, the local government of Misamis Oriental also prohibited the entry of pork and pork products into the province.
Araos said despite strict pork ban implementation, agriculture technicians are wary that the highly contagious disease might enter through the Mindanao International Container Terminal (Tagoloan), Laguindingan Airport (Laguindingan), which are both located in Misamis Oriental, and the Macabalan Port in Cagayan de Oro.
“There is still a chance that the viral disease can get through despite our strict monitoring,” she said.
Cagayan de Oro spokesperson Maricel Rivera said Mayor Moreno signed the order after strong recommendations for a ban from the DA Region 10 and hog producers belonging to the Northern Mindanao Hog Producers Association.
She said the order was written last September 25 but Moreno only signed it on Sept. 30.
“We made a lot of consultations but the hog owners and the DA region 10 made a strong appeal for the ban,” Rivera said.
She said the ban is temporary and does not include hogs produced in Northern Mindanao which is estimated to be 196,000 metric tons annually.
She said pork and pork products produced locally can still be sold in local groceries and restaurants. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
