DA vows to end ASF problem this year

The Department of Agriculture on Tuesday committed itself to ending the African swine fever problem which caused tight supplies and a spike in pork prices in the country this year.

“For this year, issues on ASF and stabilizing food prices very much remain to be real problems that we have been dealing with,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said during the Asia CEO Forum on Tuesday.

"By means of various strategies... we are committed to ending the problem this year,” he emphasized.

At the start of 2021, ASF caused a 3-million drop in the total swine inventory, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported, with the government scrambling to

“On ASF, we have since expanded our support for local producers by providing support in the shipment of live pigs and whole carcasses,” Dar said.

“The DA is providing a reimbursement of P21 per kilo in shipments [from] Mindanao; P15 per kilo in the Visayas, Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, MIMAROPA and Bicol, and P10 per kilo in Central Luzon and in Calabarzon,” he added.

The Agriculture chief added that the government increased the indemnification fund to P10,000 per head from P5,000, benefiting farmers whose hogs were destroyed from ASF culling operations.

The DA also launched a P29.6-billion twin program to revive the African swine fever-hit hog industry, and ensuring that the disease would not spread further.

“We have also launched the national re-population and recovery program for the hog industry together with Bantay ASF sa Barangay with a combined P29.6 billion from private and public sector investments,” Dar said.

Among the recovery programs was a P500-million financing initiative for loans to be extended to backyard hog raisers with zero interest and payable in three to five years.

The Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines were also allotting P15 billion and P12 billion, respectively, for loans to commercial raisers.

The DA was also allocating about P1.1 billion for the re-population program this year, of which P400 million will be used to establish breeder farms; P200 million for re-population of ASF-affected areas using a "sentinel" approach.

“Filipino-made ASF test kits will be rolled out commercially in the next few months to enable swift containment efforts,” added Dar.

The DA also submitted this week its recommendation to declare a nationwide state of emergency due to the threat of ASF.

The government imposed a price ceiling in Metro Manila for 60 days starting Monday upon the recommendation of the Department of Agriculture.

The price ceiling is P300 per kilo for liempo, P270 per kilo for kasim and pigue, and P160 per kilo for dressed chicken.

The DA is, likewise, proposing to increase the MAV on pork imports to 400,000 metric tons from the current 54,000 metric tons to augment domestic supply due to the constraints brought by the African swine fever (ASF).

Apart from increasing MAV, the agency is looking to lower tariffs on pork imports from 30% to 5% for this year. — DVM, GMA News