Cambodia tightens border controls to keep ASF virus away
The spread of ASF virus in the southern part of Vietnam is cause for concern for Cambodian pig industry, including vendors, slaughterhouses, and feed factories, reports Khmer Times newspaper. At the beginning of the week, Veng Sakhon, the Minister of Agriculture has asked relevant authorities to strengthen border checks to prevent the African swine fever (ASF) virus from entering the country.
A workshop with significant players in the industry has been organized to discuss ways of stopping the virus from entering the country through land crossings with neighbouring countries.
According to the minister, the industry is experiencing a transformation, from small family-owned businesses to larger commercial operations. "With demand for meat on the rise, farmers need to be careful and follow all sanitary and quality requirements to protect consumers’ health", recommended the official. Pig prices in the country are around $2.5 per kilogram, according to official data and information delivered by the Cambodia Pig Raising Association.
Around 5,000 pigs are consumed on a daily bases in Cambodia and at least 1,500 are imported to cover the domestic demand. Just like Vietnam, the pig sector is characterized by small, family-owned farms, with only a few important players running commercial enterprises on a high scale.
In 2018, Cambodia had 2.8 million pigs in these farms, with 2 million raised by small, family-owned businesses and the rest raised for commercial purposes. There are 670 pig farms in the country, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The similarities existing between Vietnam and Cambodia in pig farming leads to the conclusion that an ASF outbreak in Cambodia will be hard to control. In Asia, the disease was reported for the first time in China in August 2018 but since then has spread very quickly to large parts of the country despite the efforts and measures implemented by the Chinese Veterinary Services. On 19 February 2019, Vietnam announced the first ASF outbreaks in Thai Binh and Hung Yen provinces. "Farmers in Asia have limited knowledge of this disease and its specific epidemiology having only recently been introduced to the region. Despite public awareness campaigns, most of the countries and stakeholders in Asia are unprepared for ASF introduction and spread", according to a UN's FAO press release.
An international team of experts deployed to Vietnam this month recommended the country's government to declare the ASF outbreak as a national emergency.
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