The Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries (MALF) has con­cerned it is work­ing ag­gres­sive­ly to en­sure this coun­try’s pork in­dus­try is not dev­as­tat­ed by African Swine Fever (ASF), which is a se­ries threat to food se­cu­ri­ty.

A state­ment from the Min­istry re­ports that it has part­nered with the Unit­ed States De­part­ment of Agri­cul­ture (US­DA) and the In­ter-Amer­i­can In­sti­tute for Co­op­er­a­tion on Agri­cul­ture (IICA), to come up with ef­fec­tive strate­gies to pro­tect the lo­cal pork in­dus­try.

At present, the Min­istry and its US­DA and IICA part­ners are con­duct­ing crit­i­cal farm vis­its to pig farms across Trinidad and To­ba­go this week to col­lect sam­ples as part of its African Swine Fever (ASF) pre­pared­ness and sur­veil­lance plan.

Senator Avinash Singh, Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries (MALF), with representatives from MALF, USDA, and IICA at the training workshop on African Swine Fever (ASF) detection, held on November 5, 2024. [Image courtesy Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries]

“With ASF threat­en­ing swine in­dus­tries in the Caribbean, these vis­its aim to de­tect any ear­ly signs of the dis­ease, which could have se­vere im­pli­ca­tions for food se­cu­ri­ty and lo­cal liveli­hoods,” the Min­istry said in its state­ment.

Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries, Sen­a­tor Avinash Singh, un­der­scored the im­por­tance of be­ing as proac­tive as pos­si­ble to en­sure T&T’s food se­cu­ri­ty.

“Our strate­gic re­sponse to threats like African Swine Fever is root­ed in mea­sures that pri­or­i­tize food se­cu­ri­ty, farmer liveli­hoods, and eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty,” he said at the open­ing of the train­ing work­shop which marked the be­gin­ning of the week’s ac­tiv­i­ties.

Mrs. Nela Dwarika-Ali, Permanent Secretary (Ag.), and Mr. Ric Javed Ali, Deputy Permanent Secretary, with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries (MALF), USDA, and IICA during their courtesy visit to the Ministry on November 4, 2024. [Image courtesy Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries]

The Min­istry notes that not on­ly will vet­eri­nar­i­ans and an­i­mal health staff of the Min­istry’s An­i­mal Pro­duc­tion and Health (APH) Di­vi­sion be con­duct­ing sur­veil­lance ac­tiv­i­ties across var­i­ous lo­cal farms this week for ASF; they al­so will be con­tin­u­ing their sur­veil­lance ef­forts for Porcine Re­pro­duc­tive and Res­pi­ra­to­ry Syn­drome (PRRS).

Da­ta and sam­ples col­lect­ed will sup­port ear­ly de­tec­tion ef­forts, the Min­istry says, as well as strength­en the coun­try’s readi­ness against ASF and con­tin­ued ef­forts to de­tect PRRS—to en­sure the na­tion’s pork sup­ply chain re­mains se­cure and re­silient.

“The Min­istry en­cour­ages the pub­lic to stay in­formed and sup­port­ive of biose­cu­ri­ty mea­sures, which are cru­cial for pro­tect­ing the na­tion’s food re­sources,” the state­ment said, point­ing to the “im­por­tance of in­ter­na­tion­al co­op­er­a­tion in ad­dress­ing po­ten­tial biose­cu­ri­ty threats.”

For fur­ther up­dates on this project and its im­pact on the lo­cal agri­cul­ture sec­tor, mem­bers of the pub­lic can fol­low the Min­istry’s so­cial me­dia chan­nels or vis­it its web­site at www.agri­cul­ture.gov.tt