MORE than 2,000 farm-raised pigs have been culled in Sarawak since March last year to curb the spread of African swine fever (ASF).

Sarawak Department of Veterinary Services director Dr Adrian Susin Ambud, however, told The Malaysian Insight the outbreak is very much under control.

He said so far six areas in the northern half of the state have been declared as African swine fever disease control areas.

Adrian said the outbreak had so far left the all-important RM100 million a year trade in pig and pork products with Singapore untouched.

The trade accounts for a fifth of the state’s RM500 million a year pig production industry.

He said that’s because the farm where the pigs that are exported to Singapore are reared is located in the far south of the state – some 90 km from the nearest ASF controlled area in Sarikei.

An 804-ha Pasir Putih farm in Simunjan, some 60km from Kuching, is one of the state’s modern pig farms with its own feedmill, abattoir and therefore has the capacity to prevent infection and to control pig diseases.

The self-contained modern farm, Adrian said, has top-level biosecurity.

For example, all fomites - like transporters and their vehicles – would have to be thoroughly disinfected before they are allowed to enter the farm.

Sarawak exports 2,000 live pigs to Singapore every week.

The state also exports “a little” – RM1 million a year - to neighbouring Brunei and there is a thriving pig trade along certain sections of the Sarawak–Kalimantan border.

The ASF is a fatal and highly infectious haemorrhagic disease, Dr Adrain said.

He said that is why the pigs exported to Singapore all have individual health certificates.

“They are tested here and tested there on arrival in Singapore,” he added.

The virus passes between pigs via direct contact, contact with contaminated feed or contact with vectors like ticks.

It is classified by the World Organisation for Animal Health as a List A disease, with a mortality of up to 100%.

There are also no effective vaccines against the disease.

Though the ASF is deadly to pigs, it is not known to infect humans or other animals.

The outbreak was first reported among feral pigs (wild boars) in Limbang division in the far north of the state.

Dead pigs quietly disposed of

Adrian said it is believed the disease was spread to Limbang by feral pigs from two infected areas across the border in northern Kalimantan.

From Limbang, the ASF has made its way southwards.

The six areas in Sarawak that have been declared ASF disease control areas are the Limbang and Kapit divisions, Telang Usan district in Miri, Durin in Sibu district, and Meradong and Repok in Sarikei district.

Movement of pigs in these controlled areas is totally banned with the exception of those that have the movement control and health certificates. They need those even going to the abattoir.

The Department of Veterinary Services will also monitor and test all the pigs in farms in these areas, be they a commercial farm, smallholder farm and even indigenous pigs kept in the villages and longhouses.

With farms facing financial ruin if hit by the disease, there have been reports some farms disposed of their dead pigs quietly, like the case in Miri where 85 carcasses were found dumped into Sungai Rait last month.

The state’s Modernisation of Farming and Regional Development Minister Dr Stephen Rundi Utom has ordered a full scale investigation into it.

Adrian would not say if his department had identified the errant Miri farm but said the farm faces a maximum fine RM1500 if compounded under section 12 of the Veterinary Public Health (Control Of Livestock Farming Rules 2003) for disposing of carcass not according to conditions of licence or guidelines.

There are eight smallholder farms in the Sungai Rait area.

To help create a buffer zone between the pig farms in the south and the ASF disease controlled areas, Deputy Premier Douglas Uggah had in the last two months been advising longhouse folks to slaughter all their pigs and temporarily stop rearing them.

Uggah, Rundi’s predecessor in the Modernisation of Farming Ministry, made the appeal on his longhouse rounds, as there have been many reports from longhouse folks that most of their pigs had died of ASF.

Adrian said these indigenous pigs reared in the villages and longhouses are the most vulnerable to the disease.

“The longhouse folk used to hunt for wild boars. They could potentially bring back infected animals.

“Their hunting dogs could also pick up the virus in the forest and transmit it when they get back.” – March 4, 2022.