AIZAWL:
Union Cabinet Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Khondabhai Rupala, on June 11, said that African Swine Flu (ASF) vaccines will be procured from abroad to tackle the disease that has ravaged pig farms across Mizoram.
Addressing officials at the Taxation department auditorium here, Rupala said well-equipped laboratory needs to be set up at Animal Husbandry and Veterinary College at Selesih near Aizawl to tackle the ASF and advised the college authority to draft a proposal.
“I will arrange import of ASF vaccines from abroad for Mizoram,” Rupala said.
It was informed that the recurrence of the ASF since early March in Mizoram has now spread to 60 villages in eight districts, killing more than 400 pigs.
The first ever ASF outbreak hit the state last year with a number of the porcine infections identified on March 21, 2021, which killed at least 33,417 pigs during last year and 10,910 pigs culled to prevent further spread of the porcine disease.
Financial loss of the state due to the outbreak last year was estimated at Rs 60.82 crore.
The recurrence from early part of March was attributed to import of pigs and piglets from ASF infected states and neighbouring countries by unscrupulous people despite the ban even after the relaxation.
Unlike other porcine diseases including the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) and the Classical Swine Fever(CSF), the ASF infected pigs and piglets died soon after infections without any survivors, while a large number of pigs infected with PRRS and CSF survived, experts said.