On Monday, June 10, the Philippines Department of Agriculture, in anticipation of a significant increase in demand for pork and an expanding sales market due to ASF, recommended that local pig farmers increase their livestock numbers.

“I would like to encourage our pig farmers to produce more, because this year there will be a large market for pork and pork products,” Philippine Minister of Agriculture Emmanuel Pignol told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Metrowide Mango marketing program by the country's ministry of agriculture.

This initiative by the ministry is due to the fact that countries neighboring the Philippines, including China, have significantly increased pork imports after the spread of deadly African swine fever, an extremely contagious hemorrhagic disease of domestic and wild pigs of all ages.

According to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), there are as yet no effective preventive vaccines or drugs against the virus of this disease, and the animal mortality rate reaches 100 percent.

“I see this as an opportunity for our farmers to increase production. This is a window of opportunity for us. In fact, I would see this as a turning point for our pig industry. In fact, I am looking at export.

Now this may be our chance. We are not happy that our neighbors are suffering from ASF, but this is life. We take this opportunity and take on the role of a major producer of pork and pork products in the region, ”said the Philippine Minister of Agriculture.