Outbreak of African Swine Fever Virus in Ikangba/Agoro Ogun State: FFRC Calls for Immediate Government’s Intervention
Curtail the Outbreak and Compensate Affected Farmers Now!
Pig Farmers in Ogun State Should Organise a Series of Mass Action
For the past few weeks now, African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak has been ravaging pig farms across communities in Ogun state, particularly in Ikangba/Agoro axis, leading to losses worth millions of naira in pig farming investments. Sadly, this is the third time in a decade African Swine Fever outbreak has ravaged pig industry across the state. However, the government at all levels, especially Ogun state, has remained silent and preferred to play the ostrich in the face of this debilitating infection amidst the pig farmers’ cries of helplessness and sufferings. More so, this is despite the fact that ASF virus is one of the most important non-zoonotic diseases globally, which is extremely contagious, with 95-100 percent mortality rate, with serious consequences on the socio-economy and public health!
The Food and Food Rights Campaign (FFRC) condemns the stone-hearted and outrageous attitudes of the Dapo Abiodun-led government of Ogun state in particular and the federal government in general towards the plights of farmers especially the pig farmers. The heartrending cries of the affected farmers are moving stones but the governments! This is unacceptable. We demand immediate government’s interventions including payments of compensation, distribution of relief materials, granting of soft loans at single digits, distribution of subsidized fumigants and disinfectants to the affected farmers particularly in Ikangba/Agoro axis and other affected farmers across the state to help them restart their lives and revamp their pig farming business, as many of them are already out of pig farming and have abandoned their farms, while those still remaining, are burying their dead animals daily, and those fortunate enough to find buyers are selling at giveaway prices! Before the outbreak of ASF, a kilogram of live weight of pig was sold for between N2,000-N2,500, but now, the farmers are begging to sell between N700-N900/kg!
Though ASF is non-zoonotic, its contagious nature and virulence has an unmatched capacity for extreme debilitations among stocks of pigs with the resulting social, economic and environment impacts, especially in a neo-colonial country like Nigeria, currently suffocating under the weight of malnutrition and protein deficiency particularly among children. So given the importance of the ASF virus one would have expected the governments to be more responsible, responsive and productive, investing massively in agriculture, and pig production, as pork meat offers one of the cheapest sources of animal protein. This is without prejudice to the fact that pig meat is mainly consumed in the Southern parts and the ‘Christian’ North. Yet, Nigeria is the highest producer of pork meat in Africa, with an estimated pig population of over 9m herds.
We urge the pig farmers in Ikangba-Agoro axis to get organized and embark on a series of mass actions including press conferences, rallies, protests, demonstrations, mass meetings etc to mobilise the public support and compel the government at all levels particularly the Dapo Abiodun-led government to accede to the needs of the pig farmers who are currently bedeviled by the ASF pandemic.
In any case, FFRC is not unaware of the lack of effective drugs or vaccines for inoculation of pigs against ASF virus. However, there are reports of promising outcomes from trials towards developing efficient vaccines particularly in the US, but not yet on commercial basis at the moment. This notwithstanding, FFRC is of the view that for the anti-poor policies including privatization of public assets, commercialization of social sectors, Public Private Partnership (PPP) among others, meant to handover public wealth to private individuals, as against investments in agriculture, education, health, etc, extension officers would have been deployed for surveillance, and other preventive and mitigation measures including biosecurity and quarantine to ameliorate the deadly effects of the ASF virus.
In addition, we note that in Nigeria, despite the existence of the Nigerian Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, Jos, and other similar research and development institutes including universities both public and private, staffed with world class trained personnel, development of common vaccines for prevention against animal diseases such as avians, ruminants and non-ruminants are largely non-existent! This is due to bankrupt and corrupt nature of the parasitic capitalist ruling elite that ruled the country, both past and present, who fail or refuse to seriously and genuinely invest public funds to research and development such that common vaccines could have been produced here, and sold to farmers at subsidized rate. Rather, they keep issuing import licenses to their cronies to import common vaccines which most times are ineffective due to cold chain breaks and loss of shelf life, with the attendant loss of foreign exchange, employment, high costs etc.
This is a sad commentary on the ruinous system of capitalism which prioritizes profits for few rich over the needs and welfare of the majority. African Swine Fever virus is not a spirit, it has an origin, and could be permanently eradicated. In fact, ASF was discovered over a century ago, in Kenya, an East African country, precisely in 1921. Ironically, till date, developing effective vaccines and drugs to combat the virus still remains a challenge! It’s not that the world, or Nigeria, lacks trained manpower and resources to develop vaccines against the virus and other common disease outbreaks, but for the profit first philosophy of the capitalist system which has made it impossible.
This is why FFRC supports the call for a working-class political alternative party with Socialist programme including the public ownership and democratic management of the commanding heights of the economy under workers’ control. This would allow for proper planning of the economy as against capitalist profits, freeing up trapped resources currently in few corrupt and massive public investment in agriculture, research and development and other sectors so as to develop society and meet the needs of all.
Eko John Nicholas
National Coordinator Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign (FFRC)
08022634850