FAO calls on Vietnam to declare swine fever a national emergency

HANOI (Reuters) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday urged Vietnam to declare the rapidly spreading epidemic of swine fever a national emergency.

The virus was detected for the first time in a Southeast Asian country a month ago in three farms in two northern provinces and spread to 17 provinces in northern Vietnam with 239 confirmed outbreaks. announced the FAO in a statement.

Pork accounts for three-quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 95 million inhabitants where most of its 30 million farm-raised pigs are eaten in the country.

"The loss of pigs due to African swine fever and control measures is placing a heavy economic burden on many rural families," said Albert T. Lieberg, FAO Representative in Vietnam, following meetings with the authorities. Vietnamese.

Vietnam has put in place strict controls on the movement of pigs and pork products and slaughtered more than 25,000, but FAO has indicated that small farms that are not biosecurity friendly would allow ASF to spread.

The disease, incurable in pigs but harmless to humans, has also rapidly spread in neighboring China. Last week, Beijing banned the import of pigs, wild boars and derived products from Vietnam.