Authority needs help to fight swine fever: MD

THE National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (Naqia) needs help from all stakeholders to fight the invasion of African swine fever (ASF) in the country, managing director Joel Alu says.
He said this in light of Naqia’s efforts to address the invasion of the ASF three months ago in the Highlands.
Alu said the introduction of the Public Money Management Regularisation Act (PMMRA) in 2018, has affected their operation and funding remained constrained, adding that provincial governments of declared diseased areas had yet to help Naqia.
In April, the Government declared Southern Highlands, Enga and Hela as “diseased areas” after Naqia confirmed the presence of the virus in the country.
Findings from Naqia revealed that the deaths occurred in Nipa and Mendi-Munihu districts over a period of four months (Nov 2019 to Feb 2020).
The pigs affected by ASF were understood to have collapsed and died with blood coming from their mouths and noses.
The disease which mostly affects pigs is a threat to the country’s pork industry.
The virus is not a threat to public health and cannot not be transmitted through contact with pigs or pork products.
Naqia said it had requested for K20 million from the Government for the first stage of containment nationwide.
But to date, Alu said it only received K1 million and additional funding from the Australian government.