Addressing the scourge of African Swine fever through biosecurity

FOLLOWING the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), there has been growing concern by stakeholders to come up with farming methods to curb the spread of this fever in pig farms.

Findings revealed consuming animals which suffered and died from diseases could be dangerous to health, also, the carcasses of pigs with the fever need to be buried or burnt in order to prevent further spread of the virus from its body fluids.

According to reports from the Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services (FDVPCS), about 70,000 pigs died in three months after the outbreak of the ASF in February 2020, in a pig farm co-operative, Oke-Aro, which is the largest pig farm in Nigeria, located on the borders of Lagos and Ogun states.

It was estimated that the owners would have lost more than N20 billion.

ASF is a contagious haemorrhagic viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, which is responsible for serious economic and production losses.

ASF is caused by a large DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family, which also infects ticks of the genus Ornithodoros.

The disease can be spread through ticks or among pigs by oral and nasal transmission. The animals can also get infected through contamination of wounds or food.

There are several symptoms, including loss of appetite, fever, skin haemorrhages, vomiting and abortion.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the USAID funded ‘Strengthening Global Coordination of Animal Health Emergencies of International Concerns’ Project, as part of efforts to control and prevent further spread of the disease recently empowered epidemiological officers with competencies for management and containment of the disease.

The workshop was conducted in two batches at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Jos, Plateau State, were field studies were also carried out.

The workshop brought together selected participants who are actors in pig value chain from twenty affected states in the country, and was aimed at building their capacity on basic principles of biosecurity, fostering collaboration, interaction and sharing of field experiences.

Also, through the workshop, epidemiological officers and operators in the pig value chain from 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were empowered on how to manage the epizootic that was reported earlier this year. Also, field study visits and hands-on practical sessions were carried out.

The FAO Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Fred Kafeero, said ASF continued spread in Nigeria has socio-economic and food security consequences if uncontrolled.

He urged value chain operators, especially the most vulnerable actors to embrace good biosecurity measures.

“Similarly, the capacities of epidemiological officers from at risk states because of their large pig population, need to be enhanced to ensure the disease is contained and effectively managed to prevent the continued loss of livelihoods”, Kafeero said.

Tabitha Jahota the owner of a pig farm, Graceland farm in Plateau said she was not hit by the ASF because she adopted biosecurity in her farm

“I have not been hit by African Swine Fever, we observe our biosecurity to the utmost, once you start entering the farm from the gate, you begin to disinfect yourself, there is water for car, that is what we use to disinfect cars, then for those coming by foot, they disinfect.

“And once you enter, you change your shoe, you don’t use your shoe you came with, we have our shoes that we keep at the the reception and you don’t enter with your cloth, we also have a lap coat that you wear as you enter, and we also sanitize your hand because as you enter the farm, there is tendency of you touching our walls, because humans are also carriers of swine fever, so we try to guide against that”, she explained.

Biosecurity are measures taken to stop the spread or introduction of harmful organisms to human, animal and plant life.

Dr Lushaikyaa Allam of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria said, for biosecurity to be successful applied, the people involved must adopt a set of behaviours to reduce risk of disease introduction and spread.

He further explained that biosecurity measures are taken to reduce the introduction and spread of disease by killing the causative agents or vectors and intermediate hosts of such diseases.

Allam lamented that the markets where pigs are sold in Nigeria are poorly designed and are mostly situated in bad locations.

He, however, noted that such makes the institution of biosecurity measures very difficult.

While noting that the quarantine facilities is a requirement that may be difficult to implement and enforced in some places, he said there should be a regular and market free days during which the pig market is thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and left vacant.

On processing, he explained that processors are actors in the value added chain that are at the major risk of contracting zoonotic diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, leptospirosis, anthrax among others.

He also advised that the processing plant should be isolated from other buildings and should be fly proof and scavengers should not have access to wastes.

Another farmer from Benue, Msookator Ijir said the training was going to change a whole lot of things on his farm.

He said there are certain things he used to take for granted that he would not do again.

Speaking on the swine fever outbreak, he said he was affected last year, where he lost over 150 pigs last year.

On application of biosecurity, Ijir said  “somehow, it’s like I have been taking the farm as a zoo, allowing people just come in to look at the animals, I know that is something that shouldn’t continue any longer, and biosecurity should be implemented to the latter because we know that there is no vaccine for this disease, so there’s nothing else you can do other than to provide maximum biosecurity for your farm and that is it”.

On the training, Emmanuel Omoniadipi another pig farmer said “my eyes are open to so many things now, what I would have started from the beginning to make it end, I’m seeing that I’m supposed to use that to start. It’s a wonderful training we say it’s a good one, I’m well-educated with it.

He said luckily for him, he has not had cases of African Swine Fever in his farm. “My neighbor who is just five to six miles away from me was recently attacked by the fever, that’s why my status here”, he said.

“So we’re still monitoring, I’m praying to God it doesn’t come near me, I’m really praying, I’m trying to re-strategize, I may have to sell the whole of my stock when I get back.

“What I have seen with the biosecurity and what I have learnt is just one central, if you apply the SIT principle, which means Sanitation, when they are sick Isolation and then human Traffic reduce it to the minimal as much as possible.

“So if you sanitize with the right chemicals and you’re doing that on a regular basis, I think your chances of survival with the African swine fever will be from 80% to 90%, I think so, that’s if you really apply the SIT principle, I think any pig farmer that applies it a hundred percent has a chance of survival”, he added.

For Elizabeth Daniels, an Ogun based pig farmer, the essence of the training was for her to go and rebuild her farm.

“Am one of the affected farmers by the African Swine Fever which happened in my farm in February this year, by March, I don’t have a single animal in my farm.

“But this training has taught me how to put biosecurity in my farm so that it will not happen again.

“I have learnt a lot about the control of ASF and biosecurity. What we know is that there is no cure for ASF, but the only thing we need to do is biosecurity, how to put biosecurity in place so that the outbreak of ASF will not affect our farm. I lost over 150 animal to ASF.

In their recommendations, the stakeholders said existing relevant laws on livestock movement permit should be enforced by the government strictly in collaboration with state pig farmers associations especially during disease outbreaks,

The also called on government to intensify and expand animal health and production extension service delivery at all levels.

The stakeholders called for a national pig farmers congress to hold in Abuja within the first Quarter of 2020 to streamline the way forward for the pig industry in Nigeria.

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