December compared to previous years. “We see slaughter is decreasing. December used to count 800 finished pigs in my facility, but now we get no more than 200.”
Venezuela’s central government presents plans and campaigns to help increase pig production.
National government campaigns The situation affects the agricultural and ani- mal protein sectors. For instance, Venezuela’s National Ranchers Federation estimates Vene- zuela needs US$ 10 billion to resume crops and herds to previous levels registered in 2012. In turn, the central government presents plans and campaigns largely promoted by official media. The information is always about isolat-
ed initiatives such as the “Plan Pernil” to produce 27,000 tonnes for Christmas, the Socialist Pig Compa- ny of Alba or the National Protein Plan (with no official data disclosed). From the 300 pig producers with formally es- tablished farms, only 15 remain. Another questionable direction was the risky plan of importing 13,500 tonnes of pork meat from Russia, while the country was facing Afri- can Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in 2019. All neighbouring countries reacted against it, but Maduro did not change his ideas.
Dominican Republic: Trying to live with ASF
The Dominican Republic was in the news due to African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in July last year. The Caribbean country has been one of the two nations – the other being Haiti, on the same island – to report the disease in the Americas after almost 40 years. The Dominican Republic is around 1,200 km from Florida, United States – the largest ex- porter and second producer – and might be an open door to many other major producers such as Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Chile and so on. The Dominican government announced a series of control measures. Nonetheless, since then, the government has given few new de- tails officially on its website. President Luis Rodolfo Abinader included the issue in his annual speech to the nation. “Re- garding ASF, I inform you that a plan has been executed, prepared with the advice and coop- eration of international organisations,” he said. Local government does receive support from the US, the Inter-American Institute for Coop- eration on Agriculture (IICA) and other coun- tries and entities. However, according to local press, there is an epidemic in several regions across the country. In February, the president of the Dominican Association of Swine Farms (Adogranja), Luis Brache, explained to El Nacional newspaper
Snapshot of a pig farm in San Cristobal province, Dominican Republic.
that “efforts to control ASF have not stopped” but we still face at least “20 outbreaks per week”. Recently, it was even speculated that the entire pig herd of the country should be culled, which is around 1.4 million animals. The task of pest control falls to the Ministry of Agriculture, via the General Directorate of Livestock (Digega), which continues to visit and inspect all the pig-producing areas to eliminate sources of contamination. Brache trusts the “disease will be controlled” and that the US Department of Agriculture Laboratory for the Diagnosis of Foreign Ani- mal Diseases will be able to determine that the Dominican Republic is ready to continue with pork production. In 2020, before the epidemic, the Dominican
Republic produced 88,400 tonnes of pig meat, 28.4% more than in 2018. This production accounts for just 70% of domestic consumption (about 115,000 tonnes), and around 30% comes from abroad. A 2020 survey indicates that the Dominican Republic has 334 organised farms with 62,884 breeding sows, as well as another 33,340 sows in “backyard” production. The total herd was around 1.4 million pigs. Since the first outbreak, authorities have reported that 180,000 animals have been culled in 29 of the 32 provinces. On 8 April, the authorities from the United States, Haiti and Dominican Republic met in order to scale up the fight against ASF on His- paniola island. The Dominican representative, Jesús de los Santos, said what everybody wanted to hear: “We come with high expecta- tions to build a route and a work plan. Only by assuming our responsibility, can we achieve an island free of ASF and any other disease in the future.”
For more background on the Dominican Repub- lic and the ASF outbreak, check the interview on pages 6–9.
▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 38, No. 3, 2022 63
PHOTO: DANIEL AZEVEDO
PHOTO: RAFAEL FONTANILLAS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
