HOG FARMERS are calling for the African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccine to be affordably priced to minimize the impact on their cost of production.
“That’s what we’re asking the Department of Agriculture (DA). In case there is an approved vaccine, we hope the price is not too high,” National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. Chairman Chester Warren Y. Tan told reporters on Wednesday.
The DA will conduct a limited rollout of the ASF vaccine procured from Vietnam this quarter, mainly focusing on red zones, or areas with active infections, and pink zones, or those near active areas. A commercial rollout will follow, with official pricing yet to be announced.
It had also procured 10,000 doses of the vaccine for emergency inoculation of hogs after an outbreak in Batangas.
“We hope it will be affordable because it would not only be used by commercial farms but the medium scale, small scale, and even the backyard farmers,” Mr. Tan added.
He said the vaccine should be priced between P20 and P100, which are the vaccine costs hog farmers are accustomed to paying.
“Right now, we don’t have anything yet on how much the net price of this vaccine will be,” he added.
Mr. Tan said a vaccine of P400 per dose will have a major impact on growers’ costs.
“This will not be helpful to the consumer as well. As we have said, if the vaccine is cheaper at least the cost saved by producers will go to the consumers,” he added.
Last year, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said that the ASF vaccine could be priced at P400 to P600 per dose.
The DA has allocated P350 million for the trial, sufficient to fund about 600,000 vials.
As of Aug. 8, 62 municipalities across 22 provinces had active ASF cases, according to the BAI. — Adrian H. Halili
