Level of Adoption of Biosecurity Practices Among Swine Raisers Amidst African Swine Fever Outbreak in Calamba, Laguna

Date

6-2022

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Mar B. Cruz

Committee Member

Melodee Marciana E. De Castro

Abstract

Among the livestock and poultry industry in the Philippines, swine industry is known to be the largest. It even ranked eighth globally due to its large production volume and number of breeding sows (DOST-PCAARD, 2016). While it ensures food security in the country especially accounting to more than half of the meat consumption of Filipinos, it has also provided good livelihood among the pig farmers. However, after the African Swine Fever (ASF) wreaked havoc in the country and caused an outbreak in July 2019 (FAO 2021), over a third of the country's pig supply has been wiped off, posing a threat not only to Philippine food security but also to the livelihood of the pic farmers as they lost income and livelihood.

One of the contributing factors for the spread of this viral disease in pigs is the poor implementation of biosecurity practices (Mutua and Dione, 2021). Along with this are the poor animal husbandry techniques, improper value chain participant activities such as unlawful live pig trade during outbreaks, inappropriate pork butcher practices, and a lack of financial capability all restrict disease control adoption. While vaccines against the ASF are still under study and developed, strategies such as effective biosecurity measures must be used to minimize and manage the effects of ASF. This study determined the level of biosecurity practices employed in Calamba City, Laguna, one of the areas gravely affected cities and has a limited movement of pork as it was categorized as an infected zone (Bureau of Animal Industry, 2021). In this study, the present status of the swine farms in Calamba and their counteractive measures applied against the African Swine Fever were determined. Specifically, this study aimed to (a) present the profile of the swine raisers and their farms affected by the African Swine Fever, (b) characterize the biosecurity and farm management practices applied by the backyard and commercial swine raisers; (c) determine the level of biosecurity measures adopted by the swine raisers; (d) examine the factors that influence biosecurity measures implementation; and (e) recommend strategies to improve the level of biosecurity practices applied by the swine raisers.

The respondents of the study were composed of 57 backyard and 13 commercial pig farmers in Calamba City, Laguna, obtaining a retrieval rate of 21% through complete enumeration. Through a phone call and face to face interviews, a survey questionnaire was deployed answering their farm management practices, farm status during the ASF outbreak, their biosecurity practices concerning the three components namely isolation, traffic control and sanitation, and their perspective with the interventions of the government to address the problem. Statistical summary through frequencies and percentages were utilized to analyze data on the sociodemographic of the swine raisers, farm profile and the applied farm management and biosecurity practices. For the level of adopted biosecurity practices, a linear scoring system was employed to determine the adoption index. As for the factors that influence the implementation of several biosecurity measures, logistic regression was used.

Swine raisers in Calamba City considered swine production as mostly the main or secondary source of their income. They were usually low-income earners where majority earned less than 10,000 pesos per month. While most of them had long experience on hog raising with more than five years (30% with 5-10 years and 58.57% with more than 10 years of experience), 18.57% were not a member of any hog association nor aware of the guidelines in Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP). There was also only 60% of swine raisers who had attended seminars related to swine production and diseases. In terms of their farms, the source of capital was usually from their own savings (62.86%) while some depended on loans (20%). In terms of production system, all farms were sow-herd enterprise with some (2.86%) who complemented it with boar-for-hire enterprise. Their pigs were also usually purebred or mixed with crossbred and were placed in pens.

During the ASF outbreak in the country, most backyard and commercial swine producers already knew what ASF was before it even hit the country, as well as its symptoms. However, most of the farms (92.31% of the commercial farms and 70.18% of backyard farms) were still affected. In addition, 76.92% and 50.88% of the commercial and backyard farms, respectively, stopped operations during the outbreak.

Overall, swine raisers in Calamba had an intermediate level of adoption on biosecurity practices, with a biosecurity score between 34-66% using a linear scoring system. Under the isolation component, majority of the swine farms, 68.42% and 69.23% of the backyard and commercial farms, respectively, also had an intermediate level adoption rate while 14.04% of backyard and 23.08% of commercial farms had a low level, and 17.54% and 7.69% of backyard and commercial farms, respectively, had a high level of adoption. In terms of traffic control, 75.44% of the backyard farms were under the intermediate level as well with 7.02% on the high level and 17.54% on low level. Only 15.38% of the swine farms for the commercial farms had high level of adoption while 84.62% had intermediate adoption level. Regarding the sanitation component, 14.04% of the backyard and 15.38% of the commercial farms had a high level of adoption rate while it was at an intermediate level for the majority of them, with 85.96% and 84.62% of the backyard and commercial farms, respectively.

In terms of isolation, what needs to be addressed were the farmer's lack of changing boots, close proximity of farms as well as their distance to the main road, ease of entrance of other animal species such as dogs, cats, and birds, as well as their lack of practice of showering before going to the farm. No major difference was recorded with the practice of backyard and commercial swine raisers in this component except that more commercial farmers had separate clothes intended for the piggery. In terms of traffic control, commercial farms adopted more the biosecurity practices in this component especially with posting restriction sign to their farms, but backyard farmers tend to restrict more the returns of unsold pigs the herd. For sanitation, having sanitary locks, footbath, treated water and stricter protocols in reporting diseases in the farms should be addressed.

Aside from these biosecurity practices, some prominent farm management practices in the study which were also responsible for the spread of the diseases were the swill feeding which was practiced by most swine raisers even the commercial farms, the lack of usage of artificial insemination in breeding their pigs, and the lack of recording, especially for the visitors who may have come from other farms and could carry swine related diseases to the farm.

While there are factors that have impact how biosecurity measures are implemented on the farm, each aspect can only be linked to specific measures. Age, production size, number of workers, purpose, attendance at swine production and swine disease seminars, access to information, income level, gender, and production system were the sociodemographic factors noted in this study that may have influenced the farm's inclination to follow standard biosecurity procedures.

Swine raisers deemed Calamba as not prepared at all with the African Swine Fever outbreak, while some were also neutral, acknowledging as well the government efforts that have helped address and control the spread of the virus. Recommendations were also provided in the study addressed to the swine raisers, the local government, and the future researchers to further strengthen the adoption of biosecurity practices in the city. For the swine raisers, biosecurity measures that were not highly observed by the swine raisers have to be improved, giving emphasis on participation on seminars and trainings about swine production and swine diseases to improve their awareness on the practices that should be implemented in the farm and the importance of reporting swine diseases to the authorities. Forming association among the swine raisers was also recommended as this could increase their interest and accessibility on information regarding swine production. Associations can be an effective medium for information dissemination, especially on enforcing the standard biosecurity practices and protocols for disease prevention, Recommendation to the local government included conducting seminars and meetings regarding swine production and diseases and provision of more accessible assistance like disinfectants, detection kits and source livelihood. More regular visitation and surveillance should also be performed in order to keep the authorities informed about the situations of the swine raisers and to address the issue of the lack of participation of swine raisers in reporting cases of diseases. Along with this, strict implementation of regulation regarding biosecurity and proper practices among all actors in the value chain should be done. While strict adherence to the standard biosecurity practices could be prevent the spread of the virus, unethical trading practices among the value chain players could still be a factor and therefore should also be resolved. Additionally, raisers need to be made aware of the stringent prohibition on swill feeding, correct feed preparation, the incentives to report cases, and the repercussions if they do not immediately report the cases. And lastly, to the researchers, future studies on biosecurity measures being implemented on the other segments of the swine industry value chain (i.e. inputs, live hog assembly and trading, slaughtering/primary processing, secondary processing and final sale) may be conducted. Furthermore, risk-based weighted scoring system in determining the level of adoption can be used to identify which specific aspects of biosecurity should be given more attention to minimize the risk of ASF spread along the supply chain.

Language

English

LC Subject

Swine industry, African swine fever, Biosecurity

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2022 M17 G37

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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