Ministry Of Agriculture: Singapore Ready To Open Pig Carkas Imports From Indonesia

A worker is bathing pigs on the island of the Moon, Batam, Riau Islands (Kepri). ANTARA/Ogen

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) through the Directorate General of Animal Husbandry and Health (PKH) said Singapore is ready to open imported pigs from Indonesia in the form of karkas originating from Pulau Bulan, Batam, Riau Islands (Kepri).

"In principle, they stated that they are ready to reopen the import of pigs in the form of carcas from Pulau Bulan, Indonesia," said Director General of PKH Nasrullah in his statement, in Jakarta, Saturday.

Nasrullah said the Indonesian National Veterinary Authority had met online with the Singapore Food Authority (Singapore Food Agency/SFA) on April 28. The two parties have discussed the results of an investigation regarding the findings of the African Swine Fever (ASF) case on pigs from farms on the island of the Moon exported to Singapore.

Although temporarily the export of live pigs from Pulau Bulan was closed due to ASF, Nasrullah said that in the future the export potential in the form of karkas is still very open. Apart from being in the form of karkas, there is still a possibility that exports can be carried out in the form of live pigs, but with special conditions after passing the animal health examination.

He emphasized that Singapore is very open to discussing technical steps so that in the future the export of live pigs can resume running, considering that Pulau Bulan is the largest supplier of pig needs for Singapore.

Director of Animal Health of the Ministry of Agriculture Nuryani Zainuddin as the Indonesian National Veterinary Authority said that his party had moved quickly to send an investigation team to a pig farm on the Moon Island and followed up on the findings of the ASF case on the Moon Island by deploying an investigation team on April 24-29.

"From the results of the Ministry of Agriculture's Veterinary Laboratory in Bukittinggi, it was confirmed that there was indeed a case of ASF in one of the livestock companies which had an impact on closing the import of live pigs from Bulan Island to Singapore," he said.

The Riau Islands Provincial Veterinary Authority has also limited live pig traffic and its products from Pulau Bulan in accordance with applicable regulations. In addition to supervising the implementation of depopulation, disposal, and disinfection.

Furthermore, Nuryani emphasized that the Ministry of Agriculture had actually anticipated the possibility of the ASF case incident on the Moon Island by setting a farm to become an ASF Free Compartment.

The Ministry of Agriculture has even approved the existence of 22 units on the Moon Island as ASF's free sub-compament, so that if one of the company's units is affected by ASF, other units that are not affected can still continue exports to Singapore.

"We have provided assistance and assessments regarding the implementation of biosecurity and animal health management on the island of the Moon, so we will give the status of the ASF free compartment," he also said.