Hog farmers to raise output by 5%

Pork producers are increasing their output by 5 percent to 1.96 million metric tons (MT) this year, encouraged by reports that the International Animal Health Association (IAHA) would soon certify the Philippines as free from the dreaded foot and mouth disease. “The private sector is working hard for that. We are cooperating with the Bureau of Animal Industry and the National Meal Inspection Services for the certificate while we improve production so we can start exporting pork," said Zosimo de Leon, chair of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. Federation members realized the immense opportunity the FMD-Free certification would have on the industry once the Philippines is certified, De Leon said. “The FMD incidents in Japan, Korea and Taiwan will certainly boost our chance to export pork to those countries," said Charles L. Ong, the federation’s executive committee member for Luzon. After five years of zero FMD incidence the industry is pretty sure that the country would get the IAHA certificate next August. An FMD-Free certificate would increase the confidence of importers in the quality and safety of Philippine pork products. Since 1996, the government has so far spent around P500 million for its FMD-eradication program. Visayas and Mindanao have long been declared by the Organization Internationale de Epizooties (OIE), or World Animal Health Agency, as FMD-free also known. “It is also the reason why we are vigilantly fighting off the pork importation of the government. We have not been informed of the importation, neither have we been updated as to where they are sourcing pork," Ong said. The government has refused to release details of a plan to directly import some 5,000 MT of pork, on top of the 1,500 MT that was open for bidding by the private sector last month. The importation, the government alleged, would cover a possible shortfall of 5,000 to 6,000 MT this year. Stakeholders have asked the government to cancel the importation, as the industry will not enter the low demand season from May to July. The influx of imported pork could shut down a number of backyard hog raisers, the federation said last week warning the government about its negative impact on the industry. “These backyard raisers where the hardest hit by diseases last year. In fact, even commercial raisers like us are having a hard time recovering from our losses. We think there is a lot that the government should have considered when they decided to bring in pork without us knowing it," De Leon said. - SVD, GMANews.TV