Koforidua, (Eastern Region) 13, Nov. 1998 A two-day Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)training workshop on African Swine Fever (ASF) for veterinary surgeonsand selected farmers opened at Koforidua on Tursday.

The workshop is aimed at training the participants to train others on emergencyintervention of African Swine Fever outbreak in the country.

The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Mike Acheampong, who openedit, stressed that the most effective way to prevent the disease, was to stopindiscriminate movement of pigs and pork products from countries where the disease is known to be recurrent.

The government, he said, had been monitoring the outbreak of ASF in La Cote d'Ivoire and Togo in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and had taken measures to sensitise agencies involved, on the dangers of the disease.

Mr Acheampong said controlling livestock and poultry diseases is a nationalobligation and therefore, appealed to all stakeholders in the livestock and poultry industries, and the public to co-operate with the Ministry and security agencies to enforce regulations on the importationof livestock, meat and meat products.

He pointed out that if the ASF disease should hit the pig industry, overone billion cedis would be spent annually to import pork to meet the meat requirement of the country. In an address read on his behalf, Dr Jacques P. Eckebil, FAO Representativein Ghana, stressed the need for collective efforts to prevent outbreaks of ASF, saying this could be done mainly through surveillance, public awareness and rapid diagnosis. Dr A.G Kankoh, Director of Veterinary Services, said Ghana has been free from the disease for sometime now because it has been very alert and enforcing strict surveillance through coherent team work. GRi......./