Insure with PCIC, Pvet

urges pigfarm owners

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Aug 18 (PIA) –While veterinary officials and volunteers continue tracing the extent of the incursion which African Swine Fever (ASF) virus in Pilar, Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz urges owners of family pig-farms to insure their livestock.

A government insurance agency, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) provides insurance cover to livestock, including swine and poultry, aside from other livestock like cattle, carabao, horse, goat sheep and even game fowls.

The PCIC insurance covers death due to accidents and diseases, and other covered risks affecting livestock.

The insurance can be for backyard non-commercial mortality insurance cover, commercial farm mortality insurance cover so farmers can recover part of their investments, in case ASF get to their farms.

According to Dr. lapis, PCIC provides P10,000 insurance cover per head of swine, on a premium payment of only P225.

In fact, she added that small backyard hog raisers are given free insurance if they are listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA).

Speaking during a radio interview, the female veterinarian who personally supervised the immediate activation of the ASF protocols as soon as Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado issued Executive Order No 37, activating the necessary measures to immediately stop the spread of the disease, in Pilar town, stressed that the insurance coverage is different from the ASF indemnification claims.

Bohol Provincial Government set up an indemnification fund for ASF: which allows farmer owners of breeders and fattened sine to get P5,000 assistance if these are culled, to control the spread of the disease.

For newly weaned swine which are included in the culling, the owners can get an assistance of P3,000 while for sucklings, beneficiaries are eligible for a P1,000 assistance.

While we pray that we would not be hit by the virus, it is also good to get us in a better position to recover part of the investment, she said.

Meanwhile, in San Vicente Pilar, as the virus that hit and caused the death and culling of 87 heads from the 9 household farms hit by the virus, the authorities have noted that their random tests beyond the 500 meters and within the next 500 meters from the index cases have produced negative for viral infection.

Moreover, as to the Department of Agriculture Administrative Circular No. 02 series of 2022, after a lapse of 15 days without any other ASF viral outbreaks outside the index case and elsewhere, Bohol could be declared ASF Free still.

Authorities however still believe that without everyone’s help, anytime the ASF virus could again come in, through the countless entryways that could not be totally covered by the hundreds of veterinary quarantine inspectors.

Biggest among the concerns are those meat sold in the online markets.

In this case, if the buyers demand from the sellers information and documents as to where the meat came, then the concern could be lessened.

Always make sure that the meat that you buy bears the veterinary health certificate, or at least a certification from the municipal agriculturist who can attest as to the origin of the pig, and that it is ASF free.

Or, when buying meat, at least look for the National Meat Inspection Certificate, which should be displayed on the stall where the meat is sold.

NMIC seals are placed in meats that are slaughtered in government accredited slaughter centers, these facilities have veterinarians who supervise and look at the animal’s health before they are sent out to slaughter. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

RECOVER. Provincial veterinarian Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz has urged Boholano pig-farm owners to insure their swine breeders and fatteners with the PCIC. For a sum of P225, one can benefit from a P10,000 insurance if the animal dies or is culled to prevent the spread of the disease. (Rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)