Pig farmers in the Ikangba/Agoro axis of Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State have estimated their losses from African Swine Fever at more than N5bn, urging the Federal and state governments to provide compensation, soft loans and other assistance to help them recover.
The farmers, under the Ikangba/Agoro Pig Farmers’ Association, made the appeal during a protest organised alongside the Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign in Ikangba Town on Wednesday.
The protesters carried placards calling on President Bola Tinubu and Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun to intervene, with messages including: “President Bola Tinubu, Gov Dapo Abiodun, please come to our aid; African swine fever has destroyed our means of livelihood.”
Other placards read: “African swine fever virus is not a spirit; government should find a cure to this deadly virus,” and “Over N5bn lost to African Swine fever, we are now jobless and depressed. We call on the government to rise to our rescue.”
Speaking on behalf of the farmers, the National Coordinator of the Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign, John Eko, said more than 2,000 farmers had been affected by the outbreak, which he said had killed tens of thousands of pigs and forced more than 99 per cent of pig farms in the area to close.
Eko said the losses went beyond livestock to include farm infrastructure, animal feed, investments and livelihoods, leaving several farm workers without jobs.
He said: “For several weeks running, we pig farmers within the Ikangba/Agoro axis in Odogbolu Local Government, numbering over 2,000, have lost tens of thousands of pigs worth over N5bn, and the losses are still counting, to the outbreaks of the rampaging, highly contagious, but non-zoonotic African Swine Fever virus.
“The outbreak has devastated the local pig production industry, leaving farmers struggling to recover from the financial losses.”
The campaign coordinator described the latest outbreak as the third time in a decade that African Swine Fever had devastated investments in the area. He accused the Federal and state governments of failing to provide adequate assistance to affected farmers.
Eko said: “Sadly, both governments have maintained a pin-drop silence to our agonies, sobbing and murmurs, yet it is loud enough to stir the dead in their comfortable reposes in graveyards.”
He said the farmers could no longer continue to absorb repeated losses without intervention, warning that their ability to endure the situation had been exhausted.
Eko added: “Neglected and forlorn, we had before now been compelled to bear our losses with stoic perseverance.
“But our limits of endurance to these preventable and avoidable losses have been exceeded. Moving forward, we can no longer suffer and die in silence.”
The campaign coordinator called for compensation, agricultural production subsidies, low-interest loans, quality breeding stock, animal feed and disease-control materials. He also appealed for relief supplies for farmers struggling to meet their families’ basic needs after losing their sources of income.
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Eko urged the Federal Government to invest in agricultural research and development, particularly efforts to develop vaccines and drugs against African Swine Fever.
He cited the National Veterinary Research Institute in Vom, Plateau State, as one of the institutions with scientists and research capacity that could contribute to efforts to combat the disease.
He said: “The fact that this has not happened, particularly in a country like Nigeria, given her huge human and material resource endowments, only shows how our successive governments have not taken agriculture, food security, and the plight of farmers seriously.”
Eko also proposed the establishment of a high-powered technical committee comprising scientists, farmers and other relevant professionals to explore ways of developing effective vaccines and drugs against the disease.
One of the affected farmers, Folorunsho Ayodele, said he had lost pigs worth more than N18m, while his neighbour suffered losses exceeding N30m.
Ayodele said: “The outbreak began about two months ago and over 2000 farmers have lost their animals to this cruel disease. I personally lost over N18m; my pen houses are now empty. My own neighbor lost over N30m. These are pigs that weighed over 300kg and a kilogram is sold for N2,500 and above.
“Many of us are on loan; some are even in the hospital because of the shock of these terrible losses. The experience is better imagined than experienced. We beg Gov Abiodun and President Tinubu to please come to our aid. We need all the support to go back to our business and continue to contribute our quota to our country’s development.”
Another farmer, Adeola Oyeleye, also appealed for urgent government intervention, saying the scale of the losses had overwhelmed those affected.
Oyeleye said: “I personally lost over N10m worth of investment and I know of those who lost over N100m to this swine fever outbreak, so we are really overwhelmed by these terrible losses, and we just beg the government to come to our aid.
“The support could be in the form of adequate compensation, soft loans, grants, and all the assistance that can help us go back to business.
“Our pens, as we speak, are all empty; the trauma is immense because we have lost our pigs to this disease.
“Luckily, it is not a zoonotic disease; it is not a disease that can be transferred to human beings.
“We, however, beg both the state and federal government to please arise and help us. The government should also intensify efforts to get a vaccine against this ruthless fever.”
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