Nearly 25,000 pigs have been culled in an attempt to stop the spread of African Swine Fever to the south (Photo: VNA)provinces and cities in Vietnam with nearly 25,000 pigs culled in an
attempt to stop the disease from reaching the southern farms that produce the
industry’s largest amount of .
Vietnam News had an interview with ,
Representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Vietnam, on prevention and response plans.
Q: What is your assessment of Vietnam’s efforts to respond to and
prevent the further spread of African Swine Fever (ASF)?
A: The Vietnamese Government has been preparing to combat ASF since August 2018
when the virus affected large part of China. In particular, a prevention plan
was formulated in November 2018 to combat ASF including a response plan to
address a possible outbreak within the country. The Government has been
proactively engaged which is a very positive condition for being able to
address the situation properly.
According to my observation and information, the Government has been responding
very quickly at both national and provincial levels with a number of different
activities. Two of the important ones in terms of direct and immediate needs
are the culling of animals affected by the virus and to stop moving pigs by
transport through provinces.
Up to now the Government and all stakeholders have succeeded in limiting,
geographically speaking, the outbreaks in the northern part of Vietnam.
Q: What are FAO’s recommendations to enhance the ASF response capacities of Vietnam
and prevent its further spread?
A: While we have made recommendations, the Government has also by itself
decided to tackle the situation in a multi-sectorial way. The situation is not
only of concern to producers themselves and the agriculture segment but also to
a number of other economic sectors, such as the food and restaurant industry
for example.
The establishment of an inter-ministerial committee or working group is on its
way. I think it is a very intelligent way to tackle the situation.
In our experience, an element which is often neglected in other countries in
similar situations is to think about the endangered livelihoods of many people
involved in the sector and sub-sectors who may lose their income source or part
of it. How can they keep on making a living? How can these families basically
go ahead with their livelihoods – in the short and medium term?
The Vietnamese Government has been proactive in implementing compensation
schemes depending on the area and the market situation. The producers are
compensated in some locations with around 80 per cent of the market value per
kg of lost produce.
I would like to also highlight the recommended zoning approach which means to
reduce the movement of pigs through locations from one area to the other.
Another element I want to mention is biosecurity standards. The biosecurity has
to be scaled up on all fronts at larger farms and small households. It is
fundamentally important that biosecurity standard operating procedures are
applied also for those workers who are currently working in response to the
situation – we can call them response workers.
Q: The FAO had called on Vietnam to
declare a national emergency. Why do you think this is necessary? Could you
elaborate on the criteria for the national emergency declaration?
A: Let me clarify. Generally, we at FAO talk
about such a declaration of an emergency at national scale if the disease is
going to have a dramatic impact on the economy, on a high percentage of the
population and on food security in particular, and imminently affecting
neighboring countries.
Depending on the development of the magnitude of the disease impact in Vietnam,
we suggest strongly that the Government observes and evaluates the situation
closely and continuously. In this context, we need to verify on the daily basis
to what extent, if and when, there is a need by the Government to establish a
high institutional level of alert.
There are roughly 2.6 million household level producing units in Vietnam,
multiplied by three to four people per household, we arrive at a substantial number,
say 10 million people who, in the worst case, could be potentially affected by
the outbreak. Obviously, their income mostly depends on several sources but
still pig farming is significant.
In addition, you have roughly another 1,700 commercial units or bigger farms in
Vietnam. Here we are talking about another large number of workers depending
entirely on the income from the sector.
These few figures already show that there is a very big potential of households
and people who could become affected by the outbreak in a worst case scenario.
Therefore, we have to be very vigilant about the situation.
For the time being the outbreak is at an initial stage but experience in other
countries shows that the virus can develop dramatically, exponentially in a few
days and few weeks. But we are confident that the Government is well placed to
being able to control the situation. FAO will do its best to support the
Government and the people of Vietnam – in particular assisting the affected
rural households.
If this infectious disease should further spread to neighbouring countries or
to the region, such a situation could then be called an emergency which would
then need to be addressed in a collective way by the concerned governments of
the affected countries.-VNS/VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
