THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday that its plan for a hog industry revival will seek to restore the herd size of 14 million animals before the 2019 outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), from 8 million currently.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. said however at an industry summit that “With a growing population, demand is far higher than the previous (high of) 14 million,” he said.
He urged the industry to increase the herd by a “minimum” of 2 million hogs each year through 2028 to return to pre-ASF levels.
Undersecretary for Livestock Dante J. Palabrica has been tasked with creating a roadmap to guide the recovery of the industry, which he called critical to food security.
Livestock and poultry account for about a quarter of agricultural output and provide livelihoods for over 2.8 million farmers, according to the DA.
Pork and chicken account for more than half of the protein in the Filipino diet, it said.
The proposed animal industry competitiveness enhancement fund earmarks about P4 billion for the hog industry to support its recovery and growth.
A return to pre-ASF levels would mean a significant reduction in pork imports, Mr. Laurel said.
“Filipinos still prefer the meat of freshly slaughtered hogs,” he said, referring to the disadvantages of imported pork, which is frozen.
The DA chief said he had spoken with two large commercial hog producers who have committed to each produce half a million more hogs starting next year.
“If they deliver, I already have around 1 million additional head.”
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the price of fresh pork belly (liempo) in the March 1-5 period rose to P384.08 per kilo from P378.84 in the previous monitoring period of Feb. 15-17 and P375.02 a month earlier.
The government on March 10 started imposing a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of P380 per kilo for liempo and P350 for kasim (shoulder) and pigue (rear leg).
The DA has also imposed a maximum suggested price of P300 per kilo on traders when they pass pork on to retailers.
The level of compliance with the pork MSRP during the first week of implementation was low at 20% out of the 170 stalls monitored in Metro Manila markets, according to the DA.
It said in a separate report on March 22 the compliance rate had risen to 25%, calling it a significant improvement.
The government first applied the MSRP scheme to rice, initially setting it at P58 per kilo.
The DA is also considering buying pork from importers and traders for sale in government-subsidized stores.
The DA on March 19 said the Bureau of Animal Industry was working to ensure the commercial release by April of a Vietnamese vaccine against ASF.
It said at that time that the utilization rate for the 160,000 doses procured by the government was 17.46%. These were administered at 29 farms identified as ASF hotspots. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
