The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Eastern Cape has urged pig farmers in the province to change feeding methods for their pigs to contain a swine flu outbreak.
This follows reports of African swine fever cases in the Mnquma, Makana and Nelson Mandelay Bay municipalities.
It’s a highly contagious viral disease that mainly affects domestic and wild pigs.
Villagers in the areas say it is better to slaughter their pigs before the department culls them to try and curb a spread.
Many of them depend on pig farming as a source of income.
Director for Animal Health at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Eastern Cape, Dr Zoleka Ntondini, says, “This disease is spread by direct contact, and also by swill feeding, which is food waste from the table. So, if people continue to feed their pigs swill, and they allow their animals or their pigs to roam around and not enclose them, we may struggle to contain the disease.”
