ON GUARD

- by Anesta Henry March 4, 2023

AUTHORITIES RAMP UP EFFORTS TO KEEP AFRICAN SWINE FLU, BIRD FLU OUT

By Anesta Henry

Cabinet has approved the resources to bolster efforts to prevent African swine fever or bird flu outbreaks on the island.
Although not saying exactly how much had been provided, Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Mark Trotman said that in addition to monitoring outbreaks in other countries, the Ministry of Agriculture has been working closely with farmers to ensure they are implementing preventative measures to protect their pigs and birds.
There have been outbreaks of African swine fever across Europe and bird flu in parts of Asia.
Speaking from the well of Parliament as the Estimates Debate continued on Friday, Dr Trotman said the ministry has also been producing public service announcements to inform Barbadians about the two “serious” diseases, including the damage they had the potential to cause.
“At the end of the day, it is up to the farmers to put measures in place to prevent the entry of the viruses, whether it be bird flu or African swine fever. From an entry standpoint, we are doing some monitoring of landing sites because the bird flu is a highly pathogenic avian influenza, to use the correct term.
“This particular outbreak seems to be transmitted through migratory birds which is a little different from the previous episodes, which makes it a totally different beast to deal with,” Dr Trotman said.
He added: “So we are monitoring sites where wild birds come into the country. Barbados, as you know, is right in the middle of the Atlantic flyway; birds travelling south in the winter do rest in landing sites in Barbados and that poses a risk of entry of the disease into the country. So monitoring those landing sites becomes important, so if we do get birds that are potentially coming in we can pick that up.”
The Chief Veterinary Officer said officials have also been creating a database on the poultry and pork industry to identify where farms are situated and what risk factors exist, particularly if they are close to landing sites for birds.
He said that while there is an ongoing community outreach programme to register farms, there is evidence of a significant number of unregistered farmers.
Dr Trotman pointed out that these farmers do not access the services of the Ministry of Agriculture for technical support or veterinary assistance because they do not consider themselves farmers.
“We are putting GPS points on each of these farms so we have a good overview of where they are, not only so that we can identify them, but in the event of an outbreak we can map it and identify how the disease can possibly spread from there outwards.
“We have found that we have well over 1 500 pig holding areas, which were a lot more than we thought there were. The poultry industry, they are such a diverse group of farmers – you have your commercial entities, you have your small holders, you have your backyard farmers – and each of them has to have a tailored approach in terms of what they can do to protect their farms,” he explained.
With respect to the importation of pork and poultry products, Dr Trotman said as the need arises and outbreaks widen within certain countries, restrictions are being implemented to prevent the entry of the viruses.
“We put restrictions to prevent it from entering through passenger baggage, through commercial entries, while trying our best to safeguard a certain level of trade. We have had to take a more surgical approach to this rather than an outright ban on all poultry and pork products.
“We have done that quite successfully with countries such as the United States and Canada, and so we are looking to try to do it with the United Kingdom as well,” the Chief Veterinary Officer said.
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