Pig farms across the State have been cautioned against procuring piglets and feed from outside the State in the wake of an outbreak of African swine fever in Assam.
The State Institute for Animal Diseases has issued an advisory to all district animal husbandry officers asking them to step up the biosafety measures in the pig farms.
Assam cases
The advisory has been issued after nearly 3,000 animals died of the disease in six eastern districts of Assam. There are reports that the disease has been reported in the country for the first time.
Though ASF is considered a severe viral disease, which affects both domestic and wild pig populations, it does not pose any risk to human health, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Thousands of poultry had to be culled following the outbreak of avian influenza in northern parts of the State recently.
Check-posts alerted
Alert messages have been send to all inter-state check posts to prevent the transport of pigs after the disease has been conformed at the National Institute for High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, said a communication issued by B. Jayachandran, Chief Disease Investigation Officer, Kerala, on Wednesday.
The closure of the transport network following the COVID-19 lockdown has reduced the possibility of infected animals reaching the State. However, pig farmers and animal health experts have been cautioned about the disease. Restricting the purchase of piglets from outside the State is one preventive measure. Pig farms in the State used to bring in the piglets from places such as Bengaluru, he said.
The farmers have also been asked to pay attention to the animal feed. They have been directed not to feed the animals with food brought from outside the State, he said.
The statistics wing of the Department of Animal Husbandry has put the number of animal farms in the State, including the pig farms, at 40,000.
No separate data on the number of pig farms are available though the population of pigs farmed in the State is estimated to be around 1.03 lakh, department sources said.
