Africa swine fever detected in five regions

Agona Swedru, Feb 12, GNA - An outbreak of Africa swine fever, a common disease, among pigs has been detected in the Northern, Central, Western, Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions of the country.

Ms Anna Nyamekye, deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Livestock, announced this when he opened a two-day workshop for Veterinary officers in the region at Agona Swedru.

She said the disease, which attack pigs in the country annually, posed a great threat to the pig industry and called for pragmatic approach to find lasting solution to the problem.

Ms Nyamekye appealed to the Officers to ensure early detection of the African swine and gave the assurance that the ministry would support their efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

She advised livestock owners that apart for relying on veterinary officers for the health of their animals they should undertake modern animal rearing practices to prevent common diseases among animals from spreading.

Ms Nyamekye appealed to pig farmers to obey the ban on the movement of pigs from one area to the other to prevent the spread of the Africa swine fever.

Dr Adjei Frempong, National Director of the Veterinary Services, said over 800 million cedis had been paid as compensation to pig farmers in the affected districts for the destruction of their animals. He assured the public that the Veterinary Services had put in place adequate measures to control the spread of the disease.

On the bird flu, Dr Frempong gave the assurance that efforts were been made to prevent the spreading of the disease to the country. Mr G.B.L. Siilo, Agona District Co-ordinating Director, expressed the hope that the participants would take the workshop seriously to enable them to acquire knowledge that could help them in the prevention of the spread of the African swine fever and bird flu.