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From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Pig farmers in Plateau State have have been forced to shut their farms following an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the state.
The farmers said thousands of pigs have died with losses running into billions of naira.
Chief Executive Officer of Topnotch Pig Farms and Services and Veterinary Consultant, Saction Hub Limited, Mr. Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, who gave this frightening statistics in an SOS letter to Governor Caleb Mutfwang, described the situation as dire and posed a great threat to pig farming in the state.
In the letter, a copy of which was made available to newsmen on Saturday , the farmers urged to Mutfwang to intervene quickly to prevent the collapse of the state’s pig industry.
They described pig farming as a major contributor to food security and employment in the state.
Yonkpa said although the exact number of pigs lost was yet to be determined, hundreds of pig farms across the state had shut down with casualties estimated to be in thousands.
“The number at the moment I cannot quantify, but they are in thousands. You can rightly say thousands of pigs have died,” he said.
“At the moment, hundreds of pig farms have closed. Both small and large farms have been affected. The big farms in Plateau State have already shut down because of the outbreak of African Swine Fever.”.
Yonkpa said if the situation remained unchecked , it would displace Plateau as one of Nigeria’s largest pork-producing states in the country , supplying pork to neighbouring Kaduna and Nasarawa states as well as markets across southern Nigeria.
“The pig industry provides employment for thousands of farmers, farm workers, transporters, processors and marketers, while contributing significantly to the state’s internally generated revenue..
” The price of pork has crashed to less than ₦2,000 per kilogram of carcass due to panic sales and loss of consumer confidence.
He described African Swine Fever, a highly contagious viral disease with no known cure or vaccine, saying that armers were unable to to survive in this harsh economy.”
Yonkpa appealed Mutfwang to establish an Emergency Response Committee through the Ministry of Livestock Development, Veterinary Services and Fisheries to assess the extent of the damage across the state, provide immediate technical support, biosecurity materials and palliatives to affected farmers, as well as develop a recovery and restocking plan.
“If this crisis is not urgently addressed, it risks crippling a key sector of the state economy and worsening food insecurity and unemployment, especially since Plateau State is one of the largest consumers of pork in Nigeria.”.
“We have confidence in the governor’s commitment to agriculture and the welfare of Plateau citizens and hopeful that the state government will respond swiftly to save the industry from total collapse,” the letter said .
Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development in Plateau State, Samson Ishaku Bugama, couldn’t be reached.
He busied calls from our correspondent and failed to call back as at the time of filing in this report.
