First steps in managing the challenge of African Swine Fever in Timor-Leste
Tamsin S. Barnes,
Olavio Morais,
Colin Cargill,
Christopher R. Parke,
Alfons Urlings
Affiliations
Tamsin S. Barnes
The University of Queensland, School of Veterinary Science, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia; The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia; Corresponding author at: The University of Queensland, School of Veterinary Science, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.
Olavio Morais
General Directorate of Livestock and Veterinary, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Government of Timor-Leste, Av. Nicolao Lobato, Comoro, Dili, Timor-Leste; To'os Ba Moris Di'ak, Av. Nicolao Lobato, Comoro, Dili, Timor-Leste
Colin Cargill
Research Consultant (Animal Production Health and Welfare), Magill, Australia
Christopher R. Parke
The University of Queensland, School of Veterinary Science, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia
Alfons Urlings
To'os Ba Moris Di'ak, Av. Nicolao Lobato, Comoro, Dili, Timor-Leste
Since September 2019, African Swine Fever has caused extensive mortalities to the pig population of Timor-Leste, where pigs are important for traditional ceremonies and for monetary income. At the time of the outbreak we were developing a sustainable model for smallholder pig raising in Timor-Leste. We added basic biosecurity measures at our nine trial sites and conducted public awareness meetings in trial sukus (villages). This approach was largely successful as, despite extensive pig mortalities in the areas, few pigs died at trial sites once measures had been adopted and trial pig mortalities appeared to be linked to social issues that could be reduced through improved public awareness. We believe this approach can cost-effectively reduce the risk of mortalities due to African Swine Fever in settings where smallholder pig raising is very basic and resources limited, but pigs are of great socio-economic importance.
