Antsirabe: pig farming threatened by plague

Lately, pig farming in the capital of Vakinakaratra started to be threatened by a possible epidemic of plague. In fact, during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, about 50 cases of the disease have been reported in some areas around Antsirabe. And according to some local health officials, a rapid expansion of the epidemic is highly feared in the course of this month if no strong and quick measures are taken by the main authority.

A great number of pig farmers are now getting worried about the situation because they know exactly that pork meats infected by this disease have no longer values in the market. According to some speculations, while the normal price of a kilo of pork is currently worth 8000 MGA, a kilo of infected meats would fall down below 4000 MGA, provided the farmers found buyers who would buy their meats.

Indeed, as reported by a local butcher, some farmers have recently been obliged to sell their meats due to the presence of the disease in their stock of pigs. Hence, they usually resort to the black market to sell their pork so as to avoid the control of sanitary agents in the legal market. Some farmers go even further by slaughtering their animals at home as they fear the regular quality controls performed by slaughtering houses agents. Those infected meats are then bought by some unscrupulous butchers who, in their turn, will sell the meats in their stalls without their customers’ knowing.  A serious warning to every customer!