To accelerate the recovery of backyard hog raisers from the devastation caused by the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus outbreak, the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office I (DA-RFO I) through its Regulatory Division headed by Regulatory Chief Dr. Florentino Adame, and with the support and guidance of DA-RFO I Regional Executive Director Lucrecio R. Alviar, Jr., crafted a rehabilitation plan to support raisers particularly those in the province of Pangasinan with 1,454 affected hog growers.

As part of the said rehab plan, affected hog raisers from Lingayen received 20 pullets and 2 roosters each on July 15 while those from Malasiqui received a total of 71 heads of upgraded Brahman cattle heifer and four (4) upgraded junior bull on July 17, 2020.

Out of the 144 targeted recipient of free-range chicken, 36 farmers are yet to receive their chicken as delivery of poultry is still on-going while for cattle recipients, all the targeted 609 farmers have already received cattle, however, an additional 37 yearlings will be given to individuals who have culled hogs of more than eight heads.

With the recovery plan’s allotted fund of P30,916,160.00 DA RFO I aims to support affected backyard raisers in recovering from their economic losses due to ASF which was worsened by Covid-19 pandemic since it has restricted the availability of meat products. It also aims to entice affected farmers to engage in poultry ventures to sustain animal production in the region.

To include other municipalities who have undergone with the culling protocol against ASF, the Department of Agriculture Ilocos region made an additional proposal to help the affected backyard hog raisers.