The outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) has so far killed 4,848 pigs and pigs since February this year, according to data released by the state’s Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department on Sunday. The data said that twenty-nine pigs died on Sunday because of ASF. To prevent further spread of ASF, 4,077 pigs have been killed so far and 11 pigs were killed on Sunday.
The highly contagious pig disease has currently affected 68 villages and localities in nine of the state’s 11 districts, the data said. Earlier, State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Minister Dr K Bichua had said that the state government would soon declare the ASF outbreak as a state calamity.
He said that the farmers who lost their pigs due to ASF would be compensated for their loss after it is declared a disaster. The minister had also said that the Center has already released funds to compensate the pigs killed and the assistance will be released after the state government meets its equal share, which is 50 per cent of the fund sanctioned by the Centre. . The outbreak of ASF was first reported on March 21 last year in Lungsen village of Lunglei district of South Mizoram near the Bangladesh border. Last year, 33,417 pigs had died due to the ASF outbreak, causing monetary loss of Rs 60.82 crore.
A total of 10,910 pigs have also been killed in a single year to prevent further spread of ASF. Initially believed to be more or less because there had been no pig deaths due to ASF since December last year, the highly contagious pig disease reappeared in February this year.
Mizoram has already banned the import of pork and pork products from other states and countries on April 2. Mizoram shares inter-state borders with Assam, Manipur and Tripura and international borders with Bangladesh in the west and Myanmar in the east.
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