Bangkok, Director-General of the Department of Livestock Development received orders from Minister Thammanat and Deputy Minister Chaiya, urging agencies throughout the country to continue cracking down on illegal importation of illegal livestock products. In line with the concern of the Prime Minister, who called for a report on the situation and urged the integration of relevant agencies to step up the eradication of "wild pigs" and set measures to maintain price stability. To help small farmers and protect consumer health.

Dr. Somchuan Veterinarian Rattanamangkhalanon Director-General of the Department of Livestock Development said Has given orders to agencies under the Department of Livestock Development across the country to emphasize measures to suppress illegal import-export of livestock products. According to Mr. Settha Thavisin, Prime Minister called relevant agencies to attend a meeting on Sunday, November 12, 2023, where the Prime Minister reported on the situation and progress in suppressing the smuggling of "wild pork".

The Prime Minister has ordered relevant agencies to integrate and formulate solutions to the problem of illegally imported or incorrectly declared meat. By emphasizing strict control measures at customs checkpoints. and hasten the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to expedite the prosecution of complaints and accusations.

Today, Captain Thammanat Phromphao, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, has issued a final urgent letter to the Director-General of the Department of Livestock Development to emphasize strictness in inspecting, quarantining and prosecuting illegal contraband agricultural products as specifically ordered by the Prime Minister. "Illegal pigs" with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) being the main agency for arresting and prosecuting those smuggled into the Kingdom. Captain Thammanat therefore has the Department of Livestock Development agencies at all levels, from the provincial, district, and every import checkpoint, to be strict in inspecting, quarantining, and prosecuting if offenders are arrested in any area from the agency (DSI ) will be considered the checkpoint officer or related official in that area. Guilty of neglecting to perform duties under Section 157 of the Criminal Code. They will be investigated and prosecuted as well.

Director-General of the Department of Livestock Development said He stressed that the Department of Livestock Development officials throughout the country should step up their operations in accordance with the strict measures of Captain Thammanat Phromphao, Minister of Agriculture, and Mr. Chaiya Phromma, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, with the main measures as follows:

• Create a plan to eradicate illegal acts. According to the Animal Epidemics Act 2015

• Establish a joint working group between the Department of Livestock Development. The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), Royal Thai Police and related agencies at the provincial level Participate in the implementation of the operational plan to eradicate illegal acts throughout the country. Including coordinating with relevant agencies to request cold storage information for inspecting illegal livestock products.

• Expedite inspections of cold storage rooms, slaughterhouses, animal quarantine centers or animal carcass shelters throughout the country. By joining forces with the military, police, customs and related officials. If an offender is found, legal action must be taken immediately. By reporting operating results every day.

• Order animal quarantine stations along the border. and natural channels which have areas adjacent to neighboring countries Strictly investigate the process of smuggling illegal livestock products into Thailand. To control the risk of animal epidemics

• If a special task force from the central Inspected cold storage and seized illegally imported livestock products in which area? Provincial Livestock District Livestock or the animal quarantine station in that area must be clarified and administrative or disciplinary or criminal penalties will be considered. according to the basis of the offense that continues to occur as well

As for the measures that will be taken in conjunction with the suppression of illegal livestock products, they are: Stabilizing the price of livestock products to help farmers and the sustainable development of pig farming which had a meeting with representatives of relevant government agencies Representative of the Pig Farmers Association Private sector representatives Representative of small pig farmers Representatives from pig raising clubs and cooperatives in Thailand have already gone. By specifying a short-term, medium-term, and long-term operational plan, the meeting resolved to take preliminary actions as follows.

1. Creating a project to request a budget to support the reduction of the pig population in the production cycle. By using surplus piglets to produce suckling pigs, the target is 5,000 pigs per week. Set an operational plan for 450,000 animals over a period of 3 months, using a total budget of 180 million baht.

2. Promoting the export of pig products and products to foreign countries. by the Department of Livestock Development in collaboration with related agencies Proceed to find markets for export and find sources of funds to allocate a budget to support the price difference. To increase product distribution channels and manage excess supply within the country. Set a goal to export processed pigs from 60,000 pigs within 3 months.

3. The process of collecting information on 500 pig traders at farms has been completed, which will continue to be collected completely. We will ask for cooperation from pig traders at the farm to cooperate. Carry out the pig price stabilization project that has been approved by the Pig and Product Development Policy Committee (Pig Board).

4. Continuing to crack down on feral pigs combined with related agencies By continuously inspecting cold storage rooms throughout the country, the Department of Livestock Development has now received information on cold storage rooms throughout the country from the Department of Industrial Works.

The Department of Livestock Development has set up a war room to supervise and monitor the operations of livestock departments throughout the country according to the set plan. By assigning the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Livestock Development to supervise and monitor the work on a district-by-district basis, the important thing is to speed up the rehabilitation of the careers of medium- and small-scale pig farmers so that they can raise again and have a stable income. The important goal is The farmers can survive without loss and the consumers will not suffer. as well as promoting the strength of the Thai livestock sector in line with the mission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Source: Thai News Agency