If swine fever is not controlled, loss of 15 billion in animal sector

According to a study conducted by the Nepal Veterinary Council, if the disease is not controlled, there will be a loss of more than 15.16 billion. According to the council, African swine fever is also a major epidemic. There is no cure for it. A vaccine has not yet been developed. The insurance companies refused to insure for this reason. The World Organization for Animal Health has not yet recommended any vaccine. Since the death rate after the disease is high, it is challenging to control the disease," said the registrar of the council, Manoj Kumar Shahi, "now the disease has affected Gandaki province. In 4 districts of Gandaki, 16 thousand 554 bangur have died and a financial loss of 50 crores has already been done. If there is no immediate control, it seems that the infection will spread to 543,000 pigs and the loss will be more than 15,160,000,000. The study of the council has shown that it has been observed in 28 districts so far. The Council claims that the profession of beekeeping, which is being done by about 4 lakh farmer families in Nepal, is now in a crisis situation. Due to this disease, not only about 1.4 million domesticated wild boars but also wild boars are at high risk in Nepal. Due to this disease, the export of wild boar and wild boar meat from Nepal has been stopped since last year. There has been a decrease in the production of 36,000 tons of pork meat produced in Nepal," Shahi said. "If this is the case, there will be a need to import pork meat in the coming year.

According to the World Animal Health Organization, where this disease is found, the rate of spread of the disease in animals is 40 to 50 percent and the death rate is up to 100 percent. The virus of this disease survives in feces, blood and meat for a long time. The council said that the environment will also be infected for a long time. According to the study, this disease in Bangur species causes high mortality in animals, wasting, and it is not possible to keep Bangur for a long time in the place where the infection occurs. Bringing the recovered animals back to their original condition will increase the cost of nutrition and cause a huge financial loss to the farmers.

The social and economic impact of this disease is huge due to the loss caused by the death of the boar, the cost of medication and disease control, and the cost of food for the surviving boar after being infected. There are a total of 13 lakh 58 thousand wild boars in Nepal,' said the study, '57.5 percent of the total wild boar population in Koshi, 14.2 percent in Lumbini, 9.8 percent in Bagmati and 9.3 percent in Gandaki are at high risk in terms of economic loss.' World Animal Health Based on the scientific facts given by the organization and the impact it has had in Nepal, it seems that if the disease is not controlled in time, 40 percent of the wild boars will be infected with this disease. It is estimated that 66.6 percent of infected animals will die.

'If only the cost of dying and controlling the disease is considered, the direct loss of the infected piglets is 27,927 rupees,' the report says, 'If the disease is not treated, controlled and prevented in time, the infection will spread to about 543,000 piglets. It is estimated that about 361,000 people will die and 15,164,900,000 will be lost.'

According to Shahi, important manpower needed to treat, prevent and control diseases is needed at the local level. But about 60 percent of the posts of veterinarians are vacant. The presence of animal health technicians in most of the local level wards is low. Due to poor coordination and cooperation between the union, state and local levels, the disease is known long after the disease has appeared and the infection spreads rapidly and takes the form of an epidemic. "In order to fight against such animal epidemics, it is urgent to immediately create laws, radically restructure the veterinary services, add hospitals and manpower to intensive disease control," the study says, "The impact of animal diseases seems to have a serious impact on the economic growth of Nepal."

Animal husbandry in Nepal's economy The region holds about 11.5 percent share. It is said that various diseases seen in animals have many negative effects. According to the council, the animal sector is facing crisis due to diseases such as Lumpy, Bird Flu, Khoret, PPR, African Swine Fever etc. Around 15 lakh 36 thousand cows/buffaloes were infected with lumpy disease and 64 thousand 400 animals died.