GUWAHATI: The North East Progressive Pig Farmers’ Association (NEPPFA) has appealed to the Assam government to address key challenges confronting the state’s piggery sector, including making vaccines available to farmers for the control of classical swine fever in pigs.
An umbrella organisation of over 500 commercial pig farmers, NEPPFA expressed concern at the recent deaths of pigs in districts such as Sivasagar, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Nagaon, while observing that the outbreak of the viral disease this year has been more severe, owing to which a large number of pigs have died and huge losses were incurred by the farmers.
“Classical swine fever in pigs can be prevented through vaccination and NEPPFA has been appealing to the government to make vaccines available to farmers. In recent times, the veterinary department has sent some vaccines to some districts to vaccinate the pigs. We request the department to organise regular vaccination camps,” a statement issued by the association here, said.
The association clarified that classical swine fever only attacks pigs and not humans, unlike swine flu or H1N1, which affects humans.
“We also appeal the state government to facilitate the mass production of vaccines for classical swine fever at the Biological Centre, Khanapara here. Moreover, we seek the government’s support in facilitating animal life insurance, feedstock availability through public distribution system and a database of pig farmers in the state,” it said.
“At the same time, we urge our farmers to follow proper bio security norms to prevent outbreak of classical swine fever in their farms. Every pig must be vaccinated and vaccine protocols such as booster doses, cold chain etc. must be adhered to. Moreover, proper disposal of dead pigs must be ensured by either burying the remains three to four feet underground or burning them,” the association said.
According to the 20th Livestock Census from 2012 to 2019, Assam has the highest pig population in the country while Northeast region alone consumes more than 65 per cent of pork produced in the country which is around 4.26 lakh metric tonnes.