India launches first indigenous African swine fever vaccine, transforming rural pig farming

India has developed its first domestically produced vaccine against African swine fever, offering hope to northeast pig farmers devastated by recurring outbreaks and reducing reliance on imported solutions.

India’s first indigenous vaccine against African swine fever marks an important shift for pig farmers in the north-east, where repeated outbreaks have ravaged herds and livelihoods since the disease was first detected in 2020.

Developed at the ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal, the live attenuated vaccine was formally dedicated during ICAR’s Foundation Day, in the presence of Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh. Officials say it is based on the MA-104 cell line and an attenuated genotype II strain with targeted gene deletions, making it suitable for larger-scale and lower-cost manufacture.

For a region where pig farming is both a source of protein and rural income, the stakes are high. Assam alone suffered estimated losses of about ₹276 crore in the 2020-21 outbreaks, while Mizoram’s losses have been put at roughly ₹982 crore through 2025, according to sector estimates.

Until now, control has relied on culling, movement restrictions and biosecurity, with no approved domestic vaccine and little room for small farmers to absorb shocks. ICAR says the new product has been tested for safety, stability and efficacy, and is intended for healthy pigs older than eight weeks, with a booster after 14 days.

The breakthrough may also reduce India’s reliance on proprietary foreign platforms and, eventually, support exports.