Southern Luzon’s first ASF biosecurity model takes shape in Mulanay

By Rowena T. Cruz Mulanay hog raisers map possible ASF transmission routes during the Biosecurity Champions Training. (Quezon PIO) M...

By Rowena T. Cruz

Mulanay hog raisers map possible ASF transmission routes during the Biosecurity Champions Training. (Quezon PIO)

MULANAY, Quezon — Sixty small-scale hog raisers are taking part in a community-based effort against African Swine Fever as Mulanay becomes the first CABI project site in Southern Luzon and CALABARZON. The farmers underwent Biosecurity Champions Training on August 25 and 26 and received materials for pigpen improvements and the construction or rehabilitation of septic tanks.

The training showed farmers how ASF spreads and what practical measures they can use to reduce the risk of infection in their farms. Sessions covered sanitation, movement of people and materials around pigpens, and other farm practices intended to limit possible routes of virus transmission.

The Office of the Provincial Veterinarian is implementing the project with the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Mulanay’s Office of the Municipal Agriculturist. The partner agencies are providing technical guidance and farm-level support as participating hog raisers begin applying the measures introduced during training.

Mulanay is the fourth Philippine location selected for the Community ASF Biosecurity Intervention, or CABI, following earlier projects in North Cotabato, Ilocos Norte and Bais City. Its inclusion makes the Quezon municipality the first CABI project site established in Southern Luzon and the CALABARZON region.

Preparations began before the August farmer training, when barangay biosecurity officers and personnel from municipal and provincial agriculture and veterinary offices attended CABI Implementers Training from April 14 to 17 in Catanauan. Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Flomella Caguicla led the Quezon participants during sessions covering ASF, biosecurity measures, disease-risk communication and the planned rollout of the project in participating communities.

The Mulanay project is scheduled to run from June 2026 until January 2027, giving participating farmers several months to put the measures introduced during training into actual farm practice. Local veterinary and agriculture personnel will continue working with the beneficiaries during the implementation period as the biosecurity measures are carried out in participating communities.

ASF is a highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs and can cause high mortality among infected animals, although it does not pose a health risk to humans. Transmission can occur through infected pigs and contaminated feed, pork products, equipment, footwear, clothing and vehicles that move between farms or animal-raising areas.

For backyard and small-scale raisers, an ASF outbreak can result in the loss of animals, compulsory culling and interruptions in income derived from hog production. The Mulanay project addresses those risks by strengthening sanitation, farm management and routine precautions intended to keep the virus from reaching pig-raising areas.

The 60 participating hog raisers are the first farmer group in Southern Luzon to undergo the CABI intervention under the Mulanay project. Their participation gives the municipality a working test of whether community-based biosecurity measures can be maintained under actual smallholder farming conditions and used to protect hog production from future ASF outbreaks.