AIZAWL: More than 47,000 pigs have died due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) across Mizoram causing a monetary loss to the tune of Rs 132.2 crore during the period 2020-2023, a minister informed the state assembly on Monday (March 11).
In a written reply to a question from opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) member Robert Romawia Royte, Mizoram animal husbandry and veterinary minister C Lalsawivunga said that a total of 47,269 pigs have died and 25,182 others culled due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) during 2020-2023.
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He said that the outbreak has affected 19,017 families and caused monetary loss to the tune of Rs 132.2 crore.
Earlier, the Mizoram minister had also informed the assembly that the ASF outbreak has been more or less contained now.
He had said that the Mizoram government has still imposed a ban on import of pigs from outside the state.
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The outbreak of ASF was first reported at Lungsen village in Mizoram’s Lunglei district near the Bangladesh border in March 2021.
Officials believed that the outbreak was caused by pigs illegally imported from the neighbouring country.
Mizoram shares a 318-km long international border with Bangladesh.
Over 33,400 pigs were killed by ASF in 2021.
Although believed to be contained in December 2021, the ASF was resurfaced in February 2022, and again in May and July 2023, according to officials.
In July 2022, carcasses of wild boar were found in jungles in Champhai district in the eastern part of Mizoram bordering Myanmar and subsequent laboratory test revealed that they died of ASF.
Mizoram was also hit by Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2020 killing thousands of pigs and piglets causing a loss to the tune of Rs 10.62 crore.