Abstract:
African swine fever remains the greatest limitation to the development of the
pig industry in Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. It is especially important
in West and Central African countries where the disease has become endemic.
Biosecurity is the implementation of a set of measures that reduce the risk of
infection through segregation, cleaning and disinfection. Using a 122-sow piggery
unit, a financial model and costing were used to estimate the economic
benefits of effective biosecurity against African swine fever. The outcomes suggest
that pig production is a profitable venture that can generate a profit of
approximately US$109 637.40 per annum and that an outbreak of African
swine fever (ASF) has the potential to cause losses of up to US$910 836.70 in a
single year. The implementation of biosecurity and its effective monitoring can
prevent losses owing to ASF and is calculated to give a benefit-cost ratio of 29.
A full implementation of biosecurity will result in a 9.70% reduction in total
annual profit, but is justified in view of the substantial costs incurred in the
event of an ASF outbreak. Biosecurity implementation is robust and capable of
withstanding changes in input costs including moderate feed price increases,
higher management costs and marginal reductions in total outputs. It is
concluded that biosecurity is a key to successful pig production in an endemic
situation.
