Recently, small pig farms in Asia have been hit hard by the outbreak of African Swine Fever.
Notably, in many countries, including India, 70% of pig farms are owned by smallholder farmers.
About 98% of the total pork production in China is produced by small farmers. The number of pigs with these farmers is less than 100.
Impact of ‘African Swine Fever’ in India:
- African swine fever is a disease that is more than 100 years old, infecting domestic pigs and wild boars, with a mortality rate of almost 100% from infection with this disease. The disease has killed about 1/3 of the world’s pigs since 2018.
- The recent spread of this disease is becoming very high in India. In India, infected cases were being reported since May 2020, but in the last one month there has been a tremendous explosion in their number.
- According to experts, due to African Swine Fever (ASF), there has been a 50 percent reduction in pork production in the northeastern states.
About African Swine Fever (ASF):
- African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects domestic and wild boars. Due to its infection, pigs suffer from a type of acute hemorrhagic fever.
- The disease was first observed in Africa in the 1920s. The disease has a mortality rate of close to 100%, and there is no cure for this fever.
- No vaccine has been invented for this, due to which only infected animals are killed to prevent the spread of infection, so that the disease does not spread to the next animal.
Source – The Hindu
