By
Felix Engsalige Nyaaba
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations(FAO), has open a three day emergency workshop in Accra for its Africa sub-regional bodies to strategize ways for the prevention and control of Africa Swine Fever (ASF)
disease on pigs , with a call on
pigs farmers to adopt the
intensive methods of pig production in the continent.
The intensive method of pig farming, according to
FAO, is the best way of preventing the Africa Swine Fever, a Trans-boundary
Animals Disease (TAD), which is spread across international borders and
cripples the livelihood of pig producers, mainly in small scales.
The three day
emergency workshop follows an outbreak of the Africa Swine Fever (ASF) at Cape
Verde in February this year and is currently in Togo, killing thousands of
pigs.
In a key note address at the opening ceremony a deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Alfred Tia Sugri, said the best way of
improving the availability of food of animals is to strengthen the pig farming
sector, which contributes a substantial amount of meat produces in the West
Africa sub-region.
According to the deputy minister, pig production is
one of the livestock production systems which enhance the agro-industry in the
West Africa sub-region and when properly managed, could serves as quality
protein for the populace.
Dr. Tia Sugri stated that, though some pig farmers
have adopted the intensive and semi-intensive ways of farming, the small scale
farmers still rear pigs through the extensive mode, and has been the commonest
in West Africa.
He said, “one of the major causes of the trans-boundary
animal disease been spread across
international borders and cripple the livelihood of pig farming , is the
extensive mode by the small-scale
farmer, thereby served as the sources of Africa Swine Fever.”
The deputy minister underscore the need for pig farmers,
especially those in the West Africa sub-region , to change the mode and method
of pig rearing, stressing that the intensive mode of pig farming help save the
losses the producers faces whenever there is an epidemic.
Dr. Sugri also assured the FAO, of the government
readiness to assist it to map out strategies that will improve pig farming in
the West Africa and for that matter, Ghana to increase the production of food
animals.
The FAO sub-regional coordinator for West Africa,
Mr. Musa Saihou Mbenga, who is chairing the workshop said, the West Africa
sub-region has about 13 million pigs, representing 43% of the pigs’ population
in Africa.
He said, despites the huge number in the West Africa
sub-region, the pig sector has still not yet fully realize its potentials due
to some reasons, including productivity and management, lack of adequate feed
and poor organization of the value chain of the sector.
According to Mr. Mbenga, a research conducted by the
FAO in West Africa in 2011, has identified Africa Swine Fever (ASF), as one of
the transboundary animal disease to be prioritized for control, stressing that
the disease kills almost all infected animals and yet there has not been any
discovering treatment or vaccine to prevent it.
Dr.Vivian Iwar,
Head of Livestock Development at the
ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, told The Enquirer in an interview that,
programmes has been mapped out to reach all pig farmers in the ECOWAS zone to
help them improve their method of pig farming.
She said, much effort was been done by the ECOWAS
secretarial on Agriculture to conduct a study on the diseases that affects
animals, especially the Africa Swine Fever and the preventive vaccines for it.
The Africa Swine Fever is an infectious disease of
domestic and wild pigs of all kinds of breed and ages caused by a virus.
Participants of the workshop would deliberate on
issues bordering on the current status of ASF in West Africa countries and its
socio-economic impact, to develop sub-regional strategy for prevention and
control, identify existing policies and current measures implemented by each
country.
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