Advocacy visit by the FAO-ECTAD team to the Lagos state Commissioner of Agriculture Ms. Abisola Olusanya. (From right to left: Dr Guy Gerard Kuoame, FAO-ECTAD Team Lead; Mr. Hakeem Adeniji, Permanent Secretary, MOA, Lagos State;, Honourabl Commissioner, M

Lagos - Strengthening biosecurity in animal husbandry is one of the sure ways to prevent spread of infectious disease, especially Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs). African Swine Fever is one of the few such diseases that have not yet got a cure nor vaccine. Though not zoonotic, the disease is highly contagious.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) programme in collaboration with the Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services (FDVPCS), organized a one-week training on  building capacities of pig value chain operators to implement standard biosecurity measures in Lagos state for Directors of Veterinary Services (DVSs) from Abia, Lagos, Ogun and Plateau states with twenty eight (28) pig value chain operators i.e. seven (7) per state, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria (CVON), staff of DVPCS and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in attendance.

When in 2021 reports of ASF outbreak in Oke Aro pig settlement (the largest in Africa) broke, there was apprehension as spill to other states could not be averted. Though thousands suffered huge financial and material losses, it was later curtailed through the training of some of the farmers in good hygiene practices and spread prevention measures.

The primary objective is to boost capacities of the beneficiaries to forestall the reoccurrence or worse of what happened the previous year, where it was reported in the media that the direct and indirect economic losses were estimated to be over 20 billion Naira (51.6 Million US Dollars); and of course the probability of under-reporting from other states.