India News | Over 47,000 Pigs Died Due to ASF in Mizoram During 2020-2023
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. More than 47,000 pigs have died due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Mizoram causing a monetary loss to the tune of Rs 132.2 crore during the period 2020-2023, state Animal Husbandry and Veterinary minister C Lalsawivunga told the assembly on Monday.
Aizawl, Mar 11 (PTI) More than 47,000 pigs have died due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Mizoram causing a monetary loss to the tune of Rs 132.2 crore during the period 2020-2023, state Animal Husbandry and Veterinary minister C Lalsawivunga told the assembly on Monday.
In a written reply to a question from opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) member Robert Romawia Royte, the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary minister said that a total of 47,269 pigs have died and 25,182 others culled due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever during 2020-2023.
He said that the outbreak has affected 19,017 families and caused monetary loss to the tune of Rs 132.2 crore.
Earlier, the minister had also informed the assembly that the ASF outbreak has been more or less contained now.
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He had said that the state government has still imposed a ban on the import of pigs from outside the state.
The outbreak of ASF was first reported at Lungsen village in south Mizoram's Lunglei district near the Bangladesh border in March 2021.
Officials believed that the outbreak was caused by pigs illegally imported from the neighbouring country.
Mizoram shares a 318-km-long international border with Bangladesh.
More than 33,400 pigs have been killed by ASF in 2021.
The ASF resurfaced in February 2022, and again in May and July 2023, according to officials.
In July 2022, carcasses of wild boar were found in jungles in Champhai district in the eastern part of the state bordering Myanmar and subsequent laboratory tests revealed that they died of ASF.
Mizoram was also hit by Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2020 killing thousands of pigs and piglets causing a loss to the tune of Rs 10.62 crore.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)