African Swine Flu: Mizoram seeks Central assistance to compensate pig farmers

AIZAWL, July 28 (PTI): The Mizoram government has sought assistance from the Centre to compensate pig farmers, whose pigs have been killed during the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), a minister said on Tuesday.
The highly contagious disease continues to ravage piggeries in Mizoram killing more than 42,300 pigs and piglets worth crores of rupees since March last year.
State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary minister Dr. K. Beichhua said that chief minister Zoramthanga had in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged him to provide monetary assistance under the PM’s special package to compensate the pig farmers for their losses.
He said that the state government is also taking steps to give compensation to the farmers, who lost their pigs due to ASF.
The Mizoram government on Tuesday disbursed compensation of Rs 10.48 crore to 2,488 farmers, whose pigs and piglets have been culled to prevent further spread of ASF.
The assistance would be instantly credited to each beneficiary’s bank account through direct benefit transfer, Beichhua said.
Addressing a disbursement programme in the state capital, the minister said that as per the Central government guidelines, there is a provision for paying compensation based only on the culling of ASF-affected pigs.
However, the state government is desirous of compensating all swineherds who lost their pigs due to the outbreak of ASF, he said.
Monetary assistance has been sought from the state planning department to compensate the pig farmers, the minister said.
The disease, which was reported for the first time in the state in March last year, was initially considered more or less contained as no pig death due to the outbreak was reported since December.
However, the highly contagious pig disease resurfaced at a Mizoram-Manipur border village in February this year, he said.
According to data released by the state animal husbandry and veterinary department on Tuesday, a total of 8,907 pigs and piglets have died since February due to the fresh outbreak of ASF.
Forty more pigs died on Tuesday, it said.
Altogether, 42,324 pigs and piglets have been killed due to the outbreak of the disease since March last year.
Besides, over 18,500 pigs have been culled since last year, according to the veterinary department.
While swine flu can spread from animals to humans, ASF cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans.
The ASF, which was first detected in the country in February 2020, affects both domestic and wild pigs.