Pig farmers in Ogun State’s Ikangba and Agoro areas say an outbreak of African swine fever has cost them more than N5 billion and forced most farms in the area to close, and they are asking federal and state governments for help.
The farmers, in the Ikangba/Agoro Pig Farmers’ Association, held a protest Wednesday in Ikangba, in Odogbolu Local Government Area, with the Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign. They carried placards urging President Bola Tinubu and Gov. Dapo Abiodun to intervene.
Why the Ogun swine fever outbreak hit so hard
More than 2,000 pig farmers in the area have lost tens of thousands of pigs in several weeks, according to the association, and the losses are still mounting. Reports say more than 99% of farms there have shut down.
One placard read, “we are now jobless and depressed.” A farmer, Oyeleye, said he lost more than N10 million, and knows others who lost more than N100 million.
The farmers say this is the third major outbreak in the area in a decade, and accuse both levels of government of failing to give enough support.
What the farmers want
They are asking for compensation, grants and soft loans so they can restock and resume production. The campaign coordinator, Eko, also urged the federal government to fund research into vaccines and drugs against the disease.
African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs. It does not infect people, but it spreads fast between farms, and no cure or widely available vaccine exists.
What federal officials have said
Weeks earlier, Eustace Iyayi, a special assistant to Livestock Development Minister Idi Maiha, called for an emergency response. He said the outbreak should be treated as an animal health emergency, led by veterinary authorities and coordinated between Ogun and the federal ministry.
Iyayi said investigators should examine farms one by one, not rely only on reports of pig deaths, and pay special attention to dense pig settlements such as Oke Aro, where many farms close together raise the risk of transmission.
He cited a report that 1,789 of 2,868 pigs in affected farms had died, a mortality rate of 62.4%.
African swine fever is not new in Nigeria. The first reported outbreak was in 1973 on a piggery in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and an outbreak in 1997 killed about 15,000 pigs in Ogun and Lagos, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Feed costs add to the strain. A 2024 study of Lagos pig farmers found that feed accounted for 48.4% of production costs, and that farmers named feed prices and disease outbreaks as their two biggest obstacles.
Without help, many farmers cannot restock. A pig farm needs breeding stock, feed and veterinary care for months before it earns anything.
The government’s response will be tested on speed, and on whether Ogun and Abuja act together. Containing the outbreak, compensating farmers and rebuilding herds are different jobs, and the farmers say they have not yet received enough of any of them.
