Nearly 25,000 pigs have been culled in an attempt to stop the spread of African Swine Fever to the south (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - African Swine Fever (ASF) has spread among 20provinces and cities in Vietnam with nearly 25,000 pigs culled in anattempt to stop the disease from reaching the southern farms that produce theindustry’s largest amount of pork.
Vietnam News had an interview with Dr. Albert T.Lieberg,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 andprevent the further spread of African Swine Fever (ASF)?
A: The Vietnamese Government has been preparing to combat ASF since August 2018when the virus affected large part of China. In particular, a prevention planwas formulated in November 2018 to combat ASF including a response plan toaddress a possible outbreak within the country. The Government has beenproactively engaged which is a very positive condition for being able toaddress the situation properly.
According to my observation and information, the Government has been respondingvery quickly at both national and provincial levels with a number of differentactivities. Two of the important ones in terms of direct and immediate needsare the culling of animals affected by the virus and to stop moving pigs bytransport 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 Vietnamand prevent its further spread?
A: While we have made recommendations, the Government has also by itselfdecided to tackle the situation in a multi-sectorial way. The situation is notonly of concern to producers themselves and the agriculture segment but also toa number of other economic sectors, such as the food and restaurant industryfor example.
The establishment of an inter-ministerial committee or working group is on itsway. I think it is a very intelligent way to tackle the situation.
In our experience, an element which is often neglected in other countries insimilar situations is to think about the endangered livelihoods of many peopleinvolved in the sector and sub-sectors who may lose their income source or partof it. How can they keep on making a living? How can these families basicallygo ahead with their livelihoods – in the short and medium term?
The Vietnamese Government has been proactive in implementing compensationschemes depending on the area and the market situation. The producers arecompensated in some locations with around 80 per cent of the market value perkg of lost produce.
I would like to also highlight the recommended zoning approach which means toreduce the movement of pigs through locations from one area to the other.
Another element I want to mention is biosecurity standards. The biosecurity hasto be scaled up on all fronts at larger farms and small households. It isfundamentally important that biosecurity standard operating procedures areapplied also for those workers who are currently working in response to thesituation - we can call them response workers.
Q: The FAO had called on Vietnam todeclare a national emergency. Why do you think this is necessary? Could youelaborate on the criteria for the national emergency declaration?
A: Let me clarify. Generally, we at FAO talkabout such a declaration of an emergency at national scale if the disease isgoing to have a dramatic impact on the economy, on a high percentage of thepopulation and on food security in particular, and imminently affectingneighboring countries.
Depending on the development of the magnitude of the disease impact in Vietnam,we suggest strongly that the Government observes and evaluates the situationclosely and continuously. In this context, we need to verify on the daily basisto what extent, if and when, there is a need by the Government to establish ahigh 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 bythe outbreak. Obviously, their income mostly depends on several sources butstill pig farming is significant.
In addition, you have roughly another 1,700 commercial units or bigger farms inVietnam. Here we are talking about another large number of workers dependingentirely on the income from the sector.
These few figures already show that there is a very big potential of householdsand 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 othercountries shows that the virus can develop dramatically, exponentially in a fewdays and few weeks. But we are confident that the Government is well placed tobeing able to control the situation. FAO will do its best to support theGovernment and the people of Vietnam – in particular assisting the affectedrural households.
If this infectious disease should further spread to neighbouring countries orto the region, such a situation could then be called an emergency which wouldthen need to be addressed in a collective way by the concerned governments ofthe affected countries.-VNS/VNA
Vietnam News had an interview with Dr. Albert T.Lieberg,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 andprevent the further spread of African Swine Fever (ASF)?
A: The Vietnamese Government has been preparing to combat ASF since August 2018when the virus affected large part of China. In particular, a prevention planwas formulated in November 2018 to combat ASF including a response plan toaddress a possible outbreak within the country. The Government has beenproactively engaged which is a very positive condition for being able toaddress the situation properly.
According to my observation and information, the Government has been respondingvery quickly at both national and provincial levels with a number of differentactivities. Two of the important ones in terms of direct and immediate needsare the culling of animals affected by the virus and to stop moving pigs bytransport 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 Vietnamand prevent its further spread?
A: While we have made recommendations, the Government has also by itselfdecided to tackle the situation in a multi-sectorial way. The situation is notonly of concern to producers themselves and the agriculture segment but also toa number of other economic sectors, such as the food and restaurant industryfor example.
The establishment of an inter-ministerial committee or working group is on itsway. I think it is a very intelligent way to tackle the situation.
In our experience, an element which is often neglected in other countries insimilar situations is to think about the endangered livelihoods of many peopleinvolved in the sector and sub-sectors who may lose their income source or partof it. How can they keep on making a living? How can these families basicallygo ahead with their livelihoods – in the short and medium term?
The Vietnamese Government has been proactive in implementing compensationschemes depending on the area and the market situation. The producers arecompensated in some locations with around 80 per cent of the market value perkg of lost produce.
I would like to also highlight the recommended zoning approach which means toreduce the movement of pigs through locations from one area to the other.
Another element I want to mention is biosecurity standards. The biosecurity hasto be scaled up on all fronts at larger farms and small households. It isfundamentally important that biosecurity standard operating procedures areapplied also for those workers who are currently working in response to thesituation - we can call them response workers.
Q: The FAO had called on Vietnam todeclare a national emergency. Why do you think this is necessary? Could youelaborate on the criteria for the national emergency declaration?
A: Let me clarify. Generally, we at FAO talkabout such a declaration of an emergency at national scale if the disease isgoing to have a dramatic impact on the economy, on a high percentage of thepopulation and on food security in particular, and imminently affectingneighboring countries.
Depending on the development of the magnitude of the disease impact in Vietnam,we suggest strongly that the Government observes and evaluates the situationclosely and continuously. In this context, we need to verify on the daily basisto what extent, if and when, there is a need by the Government to establish ahigh 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 bythe outbreak. Obviously, their income mostly depends on several sources butstill pig farming is significant.
In addition, you have roughly another 1,700 commercial units or bigger farms inVietnam. Here we are talking about another large number of workers dependingentirely on the income from the sector.
These few figures already show that there is a very big potential of householdsand 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 othercountries shows that the virus can develop dramatically, exponentially in a fewdays and few weeks. But we are confident that the Government is well placed tobeing able to control the situation. FAO will do its best to support theGovernment and the people of Vietnam – in particular assisting the affectedrural households.
If this infectious disease should further spread to neighbouring countries orto the region, such a situation could then be called an emergency which wouldthen need to be addressed in a collective way by the concerned governments ofthe affected countries.-VNS/VNA
VNA
