Aizawl, Sep 7 (IANS) An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has been raging in Mizoram for the past seven months. Officials say it has led to the death of over 33,000 pigs, some of them due to the disease and some of them being culled.
Officials of the Mizoram Animal Husbandry and Veterinary (AHV) Department said that a large number of farmers across the state have suffered heavy losses due to the ASF outbreak. Though the proportion of pigs dying due to ASF suffering and being killed has reduced in the last few weeks, the outbreak of the infectious disease continues in several districts.
According to unofficial estimates, pig farmers in six of the 11 districts of the hilly border state have suffered huge losses of over Rs 23-25 crore due to the outbreak of the infectious disease since February this year.
ASF, which does not affect humans, is a highly contagious disease among pigs and poses a serious threat with high mortality.
AHV officials said the ASF outbreak since 2021 has caused huge losses to farmers and government firms. They said the first ASF case this year was reported on February 9 in Lithum village in Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar. “Pigs in government and private firms and households in over 180 villages in Aizawl, Champhai, Lunglei, Saitual, Khawzawl and Serchhip have been infected by the ASF outbreak so far,” they said.
The first report of ASF was reported along the Mizoram border in 2021, when, according to AHV department officials, 33,420 pigs and piglets died due to the infectious disease, while 12,800 pigs and piglets died in 2022 and 1,040 in 2023.
The first case of ASF in Mizoram was reported in mid-March 2021 from Lungsen village in Lunglei district bordering Bangladesh and since then, the disease has been outbreaks every year.
Mizoram Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Minister C Lalsavivunga recently said in the state assembly that pig farmers in the state have suffered losses of about Rs 800 crore following the ASF outbreak in the state in 2020.
–IANS
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