Support to patronize local pork is gaining ground.
The Philippine Feed Millers Association of the Philippines (PAFMI) expressed support to the swine industry’s calls for consumers to patronize locally- produced pork over imported ones i to help the industry recover from the effects of the African swine fever (ASF).
The Pork Producers Federations of the Philippines, Inc. (ProPork) is appealing for public support citing consumers also play a crucial role in the recovery of the industry.
“We started this campaign because we saw how our local pork industry struggled in the past months. As a leader of the 48 pork-producing affiliates in the country, it is our responsibility to protect our industry, especially our local hog raisers, farmers and the other allied partners in the supply chain,” said Rolando Tambago, ProPork president, in a statement.
Tambago added local pork production this year is expected to be at 1.14 million metric tons (MT) which is 29 percent lower than the 1.61 million MT in 2020.
ProPork said the slump is due to weak pork demand and the arrival of imported pork at lower tariff rates which is feared to further be affected by the slowdown in consumer spending because of the pandemic.
Tambago added imports could discourage local hog raisers in the long run and stop operation altogether.
PAFMI said it will support all measures that will improve the agriculture sector and ensure the country’s food-producing capabilities, including the Eat Pinoy Pork campaign aside from efforts to work with the government coming up with inclusive policies to ensure reliability and consistency in the supply of raw materials needed for hog feeds.
The United States Department of Agriculture projects hog production in the Philippines to be flat at 1 million MT in 2022 .
Based on the Department of Agriculture’s monitoring of eleven public markets, as of yesterday (Oct. 7), the prevailing price of liempo is at P330 per kg and kasim at 280 per kg. -J. Macapagal
