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58300
Thu, 04/30/2009 - 09:03
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News Focus: INDONESIA TIGHTENING CONTROL OF SWINE FLU
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, April 30 (ANTARA) - The government is setting aside about Rp40 billion to finance prevention measures and will check some seven million pigs throughout the country in an effort to thwart the swine flu threat that has driven down the sales of pork to 75 percent at traditional markets.
"We will conduct a surveillance on the pig population and the result will be made known in two weeks' time," Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said on Wednesday. In the meantime, Director General for Animal Husbandry Tjeppy D Soedjana said that the Rp40 billion allocated by the government is to be taken from the bird flu handling budget provided some time ago.
The government is taking necessary preventive measures following reports on the outbreak of the swine flu in North American countries. In Mexico, swine flu is believed to have killed 149 people while 776 others have been hospitalized, according to Mexican government statistics.
The number of infections in the United States rose to 65, Canada has 13, and new cases were also confirmed in Israel and New Zealand
Although until now there has been no report of a swine flu case in Indonesia, the government will focus surveillance operations on pig farms such as in Bulan Island. Pig farm in the country are located in Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, West Kalimantan, Papua, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra and Batam.
According to the directorate general of animal husbandry the pig population in the country now reached 7.5 million heads, mostly in East Nusa Tenggara (around 1.6 million), Bali (900,000), West Kalimantan (876,000), North Sumatra (760,000), South Sulawesi (530,000), Papua (507,000) and 2.2 million others in other regions.
The Rp40 billion would be used to carry out activities such for overcoming the spread of bird flu in the country. "We will carry out activities like handling bird flu cases. If the funds are not enough, additional funds can be allocated," Animal Husbandry Director General Tjeppy Soedjana said.
He said that other efforts included banning imports of pigs from swine-affected countries. Indonesia is estimated to import 100 to 3,000 tons of pork annually. In 2008 it was recorded at 2,600 tons.
The government has already banned the imports of pigs, pork and its derivatives. "Only imports of canned pork are allowed. Indonesia imports 100 to 3,000 tons of pork products a year. Imports in 2008 totaled 2,600 tons of mixed pork products including high quality meat.
Swift measures against possible threat of swine flu could save billions of losses. For example, in North Sulawesi, one of the biggest pig producers, a potential loss of about Rp16 billion could be prevented.
"North Sulawesi is the biggest pig producing province in the Indonesian eastern regions, so that swift preventive measures are vitally important," Head of North Sulawesi's Animal Husbandry Service Herry Rotinsulu said.
With reports on the outbreak of swine flu, the price of pork, especially in traditional markets has dropped significantly. "Pork sales have in the last two days dropped by 75 percent," Frida Sianipar, a trader at the Pasar Agung traditional market in Depok, one of Jakarta's satellite towns, said on Wednesday.
She used to sell 20 kg of pork each day but since the reports on the swine flu outbreak in the last two days, he was only able to sell 5 kg. Efi Sondakh, a trader at Pasar Agung in Depok Timur, said pork sales had dropped drastically over the past two days. "Today I could only sell 3 kg of the commodity. I usually sell 15 kg a day," Sondakh said. One kg of super quality pork sells at Rp42,000 while medium quality sells at Rp38,000 per kg.
"Consumers are reluctant to buy raw pork after they heard about the spread of swine flu virus that has taken the lives of many people in other countries," she said.
With regard to the reports, authorities in various parts of the country are tightening control of possible entry of the disease into the country.
Jakarta's fisheries, maritime and food resilience affairs office, for example, is tightly watching the possible entry of swine flu into the capital city in order to take counter measures when it does.
"As part of our alertness, we have made an inspection in the form of sweepings and spraying. We will take quick action as soon as there is a suspected case," he said. The office is also coordinating with pig supplying regions, namely Central Java which meets 90 percent of Jakarta's demand and North Sumatra which supplies 10 percent.
Bali, as a world tourism destination, has made early preparations by among other things preparing three hospitals for medical treatment of people suspected of having contracted the swine flu virus.
Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport is now also on a full alert. Any passenger and aircraft crew member coming from another n country must pass a thermal scanner. Passengers coming from swine-flu affected countries would have to go through a special checking procedure.
In Riau province, the animal husbandry service is tightly supervising pig trading. "We will supervise the flow of pigs in all regions in Riau province," the head of Riau's animal husbandry service, Patrianov, said. A total of 2,500 pigs entered the province from North Sumatra each month. Pigs from North Sumatra are transported by land and transit in Riau before taken to Riau Islands from where they are exported to neighboring countries.
In Banten, Lebak district, in particular, the local animal husbandry service is also tightly supervising the flow of cattle into the region. "I have tightened supervision and monitoring of the flow of cattle entering Rangkasbitung," the head of Lebak's animal husbandry service, Iman Santoso, said. No resident in Lebak has been found infected with the swine flu virus but control in border areas is being tightened to ward off the possible entry of the virus into the regions.
In West Java's Garut district, Head of the local animal husbandry service, Hendry Budiman, has ordered his staff to stay alert against a possible threat of the swine flu in the region. "We have prepared 62 community health-care centers with emergency care units throughout Garut, despite the fact that the Ministry of Health has yet to provide technical guidance," Budiman said.***
Jakarta, April 30 (ANTARA) - The government is setting aside about Rp40 billion to finance prevention measures and will check some seven million pigs throughout the country in an effort to thwart the swine flu threat that has driven down the sales of pork to 75 percent at traditional markets.
"We will conduct a surveillance on the pig population and the result will be made known in two weeks' time," Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said on Wednesday. In the meantime, Director General for Animal Husbandry Tjeppy D Soedjana said that the Rp40 billion allocated by the government is to be taken from the bird flu handling budget provided some time ago.
The government is taking necessary preventive measures following reports on the outbreak of the swine flu in North American countries. In Mexico, swine flu is believed to have killed 149 people while 776 others have been hospitalized, according to Mexican government statistics.
The number of infections in the United States rose to 65, Canada has 13, and new cases were also confirmed in Israel and New Zealand
Although until now there has been no report of a swine flu case in Indonesia, the government will focus surveillance operations on pig farms such as in Bulan Island. Pig farm in the country are located in Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, West Kalimantan, Papua, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra and Batam.
According to the directorate general of animal husbandry the pig population in the country now reached 7.5 million heads, mostly in East Nusa Tenggara (around 1.6 million), Bali (900,000), West Kalimantan (876,000), North Sumatra (760,000), South Sulawesi (530,000), Papua (507,000) and 2.2 million others in other regions.
The Rp40 billion would be used to carry out activities such for overcoming the spread of bird flu in the country. "We will carry out activities like handling bird flu cases. If the funds are not enough, additional funds can be allocated," Animal Husbandry Director General Tjeppy Soedjana said.
He said that other efforts included banning imports of pigs from swine-affected countries. Indonesia is estimated to import 100 to 3,000 tons of pork annually. In 2008 it was recorded at 2,600 tons.
The government has already banned the imports of pigs, pork and its derivatives. "Only imports of canned pork are allowed. Indonesia imports 100 to 3,000 tons of pork products a year. Imports in 2008 totaled 2,600 tons of mixed pork products including high quality meat.
Swift measures against possible threat of swine flu could save billions of losses. For example, in North Sulawesi, one of the biggest pig producers, a potential loss of about Rp16 billion could be prevented.
"North Sulawesi is the biggest pig producing province in the Indonesian eastern regions, so that swift preventive measures are vitally important," Head of North Sulawesi's Animal Husbandry Service Herry Rotinsulu said.
With reports on the outbreak of swine flu, the price of pork, especially in traditional markets has dropped significantly. "Pork sales have in the last two days dropped by 75 percent," Frida Sianipar, a trader at the Pasar Agung traditional market in Depok, one of Jakarta's satellite towns, said on Wednesday.
She used to sell 20 kg of pork each day but since the reports on the swine flu outbreak in the last two days, he was only able to sell 5 kg. Efi Sondakh, a trader at Pasar Agung in Depok Timur, said pork sales had dropped drastically over the past two days. "Today I could only sell 3 kg of the commodity. I usually sell 15 kg a day," Sondakh said. One kg of super quality pork sells at Rp42,000 while medium quality sells at Rp38,000 per kg.
"Consumers are reluctant to buy raw pork after they heard about the spread of swine flu virus that has taken the lives of many people in other countries," she said.
With regard to the reports, authorities in various parts of the country are tightening control of possible entry of the disease into the country.
Jakarta's fisheries, maritime and food resilience affairs office, for example, is tightly watching the possible entry of swine flu into the capital city in order to take counter measures when it does.
"As part of our alertness, we have made an inspection in the form of sweepings and spraying. We will take quick action as soon as there is a suspected case," he said. The office is also coordinating with pig supplying regions, namely Central Java which meets 90 percent of Jakarta's demand and North Sumatra which supplies 10 percent.
Bali, as a world tourism destination, has made early preparations by among other things preparing three hospitals for medical treatment of people suspected of having contracted the swine flu virus.
Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport is now also on a full alert. Any passenger and aircraft crew member coming from another n country must pass a thermal scanner. Passengers coming from swine-flu affected countries would have to go through a special checking procedure.
In Riau province, the animal husbandry service is tightly supervising pig trading. "We will supervise the flow of pigs in all regions in Riau province," the head of Riau's animal husbandry service, Patrianov, said. A total of 2,500 pigs entered the province from North Sumatra each month. Pigs from North Sumatra are transported by land and transit in Riau before taken to Riau Islands from where they are exported to neighboring countries.
In Banten, Lebak district, in particular, the local animal husbandry service is also tightly supervising the flow of cattle into the region. "I have tightened supervision and monitoring of the flow of cattle entering Rangkasbitung," the head of Lebak's animal husbandry service, Iman Santoso, said. No resident in Lebak has been found infected with the swine flu virus but control in border areas is being tightened to ward off the possible entry of the virus into the regions.
In West Java's Garut district, Head of the local animal husbandry service, Hendry Budiman, has ordered his staff to stay alert against a possible threat of the swine flu in the region. "We have prepared 62 community health-care centers with emergency care units throughout Garut, despite the fact that the Ministry of Health has yet to provide technical guidance," Budiman said.***
