(Bloomberg photo)HANOI: Vietnam said on Friday it has culled 2 million pigs in a bid to curb an outbreak of deadly African swine fever and called on the entire nation to join the fight against the rapidly spreading disease. Pork accounts for three-quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 95 million people where most of its 30 million farm-raised pigs are consumed domestically. African swine fever was first detected in Asia last August in China, the world's largest pork producer, where Rabobank has estimated up 200 million pigs could be culled or die. Earlier this month, Vietnam said it will mobilise its military and police forces to help combat the outbreak. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in March advised Vietnam to declare the swine fever outbreak as a national emergency.

Source: Bangkok Post May 31, 2019 07:07 UTC