Kpone Katamanso: Restrict movement of pigs to prevent spread of swine fever – Farmers urged

The Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly has urged pig farmers within the municipality to restrict the movement of their animals following the detection of the African Swine Fever among some pigs in the enclave.

According to the Municipal Veterinary Officer, Dr. Emmanuel Kwao Pecku, adherence to the directive will help stop the spread of the virus.

In an interview monitored by Plan B FM, the veterinary officer attributed the quick spread of the virus to the inappropriate disposal of carcasses of infected pigs by farmers.

“This is African Swine Fever. It is not transferrable to human beings. When the animals have this, what happens is that most of them die and because they die rapidly, the farmers go on to dispose of them in the open, and that is what is causing the problem here because most of the farmers here dump the animals on the bare ground, and that is what is attributing to the spread of the virus.”

“Currently, it’s within two communities, Nsaki and Kpone. There should have been a restriction of the movement of pigs to outside the municipality because if a farmer moves the animal to a different locality, there will be a spread of the virus. We are discouraging the farmers from moving them to be able to contain the virus,” he added.

Dr. Pecku also indicated that education for farmers among other measures are being put in place to contain the spread of the virus.

“We are educating the farmers on how the disease spreads, and so they can alert authorities if their animals are dying. We’re also teaching them how to dispose of the dead animals and clean and disinfect the pens. We’re also speaking to the assemblies to see if we can dig holes for the farmers to dump the carcasses that have been indiscriminately disposed.”

He further assured consumers of pork that there is no need to worry, as the virus is not transferrable to humans.

“There shouldn’t be any panic about pig products. Those consuming pork can still consume it because the disease is not transferrable to humans, so there is no cause for alarm.”