Vendors prepare pork for sale at a market in the southern Thailand province of Narathiwat on Jan 15, 2022. - AFP
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The Agricultural Quarantine Agency has limited the local supply of pigs following a finding of the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus in Batam.
Pig exports to Singapore from Batam are temporarily suspended. Office head Aris Hadiyono said the limitation was intended to control the spread of the ASF virus, even though it is not contagious to humans.
“We are currently limiting the supply of pigs for local needs,” Aris told The Jakarta Post on Monday, without providing further details of the restriction.
Earlier this month, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) reported that the Indonesian veterinary authority had notified the organisation of an ASF incident on a pig farm on Bulan Island in Batam.
The ASF’s finding was first detected in a batch of livestock from the island by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in April. The SFA later announced the suspension of live pig imports from Bulan Island on April 20, which went into effect on April 23.
The Agriculture Ministry has revoked the ASF-free certificate for PT Indo Tirta Suaka (ITS), which operates the farm.
According to Aris, the Agricultural Quarantine Agency is conducting strict supervision on the pig farm.
“Together with the company, we are also working to ensure the implementation of biosecurity and limit the mobilization of people entering and leaving Bulan Island,” he said.
He added that they were also reorganizing and cleaning out the cage compartment. Aris also said the company's ASF-free certificate, which would allow it to resume export, would be reinstated upon the decision by the Riau Agricultural Office, the Agriculture Ministry’s Animal Husbandry Directorate General and the Agricultural Quarantine Agency.
The ITS farm occupies 1,500 hectares in Batam and manages some 240,000 pigs. The company typically sells pigs to Singapore at about US$1.5 per kilogram.
According to the SFA, live pigs from Bulan Island make up about 15 per cent of Singapore's total pork supply.
