Sufficient meat supply next two months amid ASF, says hog raisers

There will be enough meat supply for the Christmas season despite the rising cases of African Swine Fever (ASF), said the National Federation Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) and the Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

According to Bernadette Reyes’ report on "24 Oras", NHFI president Chester Warren Tan said hog farmers have already started breeding more pigs.

“Hindi po tayo kukulangin ng in terms of local and fresh meat lalo na this coming November and December,” Tan said.

(We will not lack in terms of local meat, especially this coming November and December.)

The towns of Oton and San Miguel in Iloilo recently declared a state of calamity due to the increasing cases of ASF in their area.

Because of this, some ports, including those in Cebu, are closely monitored to ensure that no contaminated meat would enter the province.

Although there are new cases of ASF, Department of Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said the supply of meat is not a cause of concern.

“Ito naman po ay ina-address ng ating mga regional field office together with the local government para po makontrol at hindi po mag-spread gaano,” Evangelista said.

(This is being addressed by our regional field offices together with the local government so that it can be controlled and not spread as much.)

“So far, the supply situation is sufficient pagdating sa pork. We will also look into food mobilization if there is a need para po sigurado tayo na marami po tayong local supply ngayong pasko,” she added.

(So far, there is sufficient supply of pork. We will also look into food mobilization (to see) if there is a need, so we can be sure that we have many local supply this Christmas.)

The government has imposed several measures as part of efforts to curtail the spread of the disease.

Aside from developing vaccines for ASF, the government is also intensifying the first border security to prevent sick pigs from reaching the market.

The National Meat and Inspection Service (NMIS) also examine pigs before they are sold in the market.

Meanwhile, to ensure there is sufficient supply, Tan said there is also the continuous importation of meat from other countries. 

He added that more than 100 million kilos of meat are in cold storage. However, he pointed out that this may “not be good” for local hog farmers.

“Marami po sa ating local producer will backout. Hindi na po nila itutuloy ‘yung kanilang plano at kanilang pagka-repop ng kanilang mga farm,” Tan said.

(Many of our local producers will backout. They will no longer continue with their plan and their repopulation of their farms.)

In response, Evangelista said, “Hihingin po natin ang mga datos mula sa ating mga attached agencies - ang Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) at NMIS - regarding po sa inventory para makita po natin ang magiging epekto nito sa presyo sa palengke. But definitely ang ating pinu-push po ngayon ay ating mga local (suppliers).”

(We will request the data from our attached agencies the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and NMIS regarding the inventory so we can see the effect it would have on the market price but definitely what we are pushing now is our local.)

Organizations of hog farmers said that they would try to maintain the farmgate price of pork at P180 to P200 per kilogram.

As per the latest DA record, the prevailing price of kasim is P300 and P370 for liempo per kilo in Metro Manila. -- Mel Matthew Doctor/BAP, GMA News