THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has set up a crisis management team tasked with enhancing biosecurity measures as it monitors suspected animal-disease outbreaks in the country following reports of more backyard pigs dying in some areas.

In a briefing in Quezon City on Monday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the department’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) received an August 16 report on the growing death rate of pigs raised by farmers in their backyards.