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The Dominican Republic is advancing in the containment of African swine fever (ASF) with concrete results: farms with biosecurity certification have remained free of the disease, while those without these measures are between two or five times the odds of testing positive for the virus. This was reported by FAO on April 13, 2026, in an update on the National Swine Biosecurity Plan, Implemented since 2023 with technical and financial support from USDA-APHIS, the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture, and the General Directorate of Livestock.
The country confirmed ASF in 2021, becoming the first case in the Western Hemisphere in more than four decades, triggering alerts across Latin America and the Caribbean. Since then, the plan has registered 637 farms (more than 80% of national production), trained more than 10,000 producers in biosecurity practices, and distributed kits with protection and sanitation inputs. Farms producing 25% of the country's commercial pork already have official biosecurity certification.
The economic impact of ASF explains the scale of the investment: USDA allocated more than USD 84 million to the program, partly to protect its own swine industry, valued at over USD 74 billion. FAO estimates that the measures implemented have avoided losses of up to USD 40 million in participating farms over the last two years, representing a tenfold return on investment.
The plan has also incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) into a pilot biosecurity management system. Over a two-month period at the end of 2025, the system tracked more than 6,110 animal movements in three production zones of the commercial farm, building an epidemiological network to anticipate potential transmission pathways.
The Dominican experience is of direct interest to the rest of Latin America: in a country where more than 80% of pigs are raised by small producers, the model shows that stepwise biosecurity (from farm to slaughter and transport) is both viable and cost-effective. FAO and USDA propose replicating this approach in other countries in the region as a reference against the ongoing ASF threat as an outbreak would collapse the pork production chain.
A second phase of the program will seek to expand certification to slaughter houses and animal transport systems, while strengthening active disease surveillance.
April 13, 2026 | FAO | https://www.fao.org/newsroom/es
