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From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Pig farmers in Plateau State have shut down hundreds of farms following an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), with more than 1,000 pigs reportedly killed by the disease.
The farmers said the outbreak has caused losses running into billions of naira, threatening the survival of the state’s pig industry.
Chief Executive Officer of Topnotch Pig Farms and Services and Veterinary Consultant at Saction Hub Limited, Mr. Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, disclosed this in a Save Our Souls (SOS) letter addressed to Governor Caleb Mutfwang, describing the situation as dire and posing a serious threat to pig farming in the state.
In the letter, a copy of which was made available to journalists on Saturday, the farmers urged Governor Mutfwang to intervene urgently to prevent the collapse of the state’s pig industry, which they described as a major contributor to food security, employment and economic growth.
Yonkpa said although the exact number of pigs lost had yet to be determined, the casualties had already run into thousands, forcing hundreds of pig farms across the state to cease operations.
“The number at the moment I cannot quantify, but they are in the 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.”
He warned that if the outbreak remained unchecked, Plateau could lose its position as one of Nigeria’s leading pork-producing states, supplying pork to neighbouring Kaduna and Nasarawa states as well as markets across southern Nigeria.
According to him, 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.
He added that the price of pork had crashed to below ₦2,000 per kilogram of carcass due to panic sales and declining consumer confidence.
Describing African Swine Fever as a highly contagious viral disease with no known cure or vaccine, Yonkpa said many farmers lacked the financial capacity to withstand the losses in the current economic climate.
He appealed to Governor Mutfwang to establish an Emergency Response Committee through the Ministry of Livestock Development, Veterinary Services and Fisheries to assess the extent of the outbreak, provide immediate technical support, biosecurity materials and palliatives to affected farmers, and 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,” he said.
The farmers also expressed confidence in the governor’s commitment to agriculture and the welfare of Plateau residents, urging the state government to act swiftly to prevent the industry from collapsing.
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Plateau State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Samson Ishaku Bugama, were unsuccessful, as calls to his telephone were not answered and he had yet to return them as of the time of filing this report.
