ILAGAN CITY: The Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 2 (DA-RFO 2) distributed sentinel piglets and swine commercial feeds to hog raisers in Ilagan City and five towns in Isabela province.
DA-RFO2 Executive Director Narciso Edillo said 120 sentinel piglets and 360 swine commercial feeds were distributed to benefit hog raisers here and in the towns of Cabagan, Delfin Albano, Santa Maria, Santo Tomas and Tumauini.
“The sentinel is a prelude to the swine repopulation program to increase hog production and subsequently, stabilize the supply and prices of pork,” Edillo said.
He said the sentinel pigs, which come along with three bags of swine commercial feeds and vitamins for each pig, will only be distributed in areas with no cases of African swine fever (ASF) for at least 90 days.
“We have been implementing the sentineling and repopulation program in all provinces of Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) where we also launched early this year the Bantay ASF sa Barangay or BABay ASF program,” Edillo said.
Dr. Ferdinand Cortez of the DA-RFO2 Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Information Section said the BABay ASF program is in collaboration with groups of hog raisers, provincial government units and municipalities, the private sector, academia, and veterinary associations.
Cortez said an initial budget of P400 million of the sentinel component of the repopulation program is part of the P2.4 billion swine repopulation program.
He said another P200 million has been allocated for the swine breeder multiplier farms to ensure a continuous source of piglets for the subsequent expansion of the swine repopulation program.
“The remaining P1.2 billion is allotted for the biosecurity and surveillance program of the BABay ASF,” Cortez said.