ASF BIOSEC-LEVEL APP

The Philippine Swine Industry particularly in Luzon was greatly impacted by the onslaught of African Swine Fever (ASF). A great number of backyard and commercial farms have ceased or reduced production as a consequence of stamping procedures by the government or fear of possible infection. This has led to substantial economic losses. In areas where disease containment was declared, our local swine farmers are considering to restock/repopulate their farms. Since there is no available effective vaccine or treatment for ASF up until this time, its transmission can only be prevented solely by good sanitary and biosecurity measures and practices. Our farmers should be properly guided by the technicalities of repopulation and at the same capacitate them on how biosecurity measures can be effectively implemented to prevent disease incursion. To help our farmers self-assess the present level of biosecurity in their respective farms, a very user friendly and free android phone application was developed. This of course will not replace the services of biosecurity experts, consultants and veterinarians in the field.

There will be two options in the application. One will be for the fast self-assessment of risk level of small and big holder swine farms (levels 1, 2 and 3). About 20 questions will be asked in this option . The other option is more detailed assessment of biosecurity covering about 100 questions . This will generate a numeric score of the level of biosecurity per category of biosecurity measures. The results can then be stored in the users device or sent to the user’s email address. The application may also avail of a cloud storage for the storage of data for records purposes and for comparative study of the farm’s biosecurity profile. A Management Information System will likewise be developed so that input in the application can be stored, monitored, analyzed and be of use in surveillance activities.