Farm groups are calling on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to immediately suspend the importation of Indian water buffalo or carabao meat from areas hit by foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in India to protect the local livestock industry.
India is the sole supplier of the Philippines of buffalo.
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and the Magsasaka Party List (MPL) said in a statement on Wednesday the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) has reportedly found FMD is prevalent in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Telangana where carabeef exporters to the Philippines are operating processing plants.
The groups said this was uncovered by the BAI’s inspection mission to India last July to August.
The groups said banning carabeef from Maharashtra and Telengana would not significantly cut the raw material supply of local manufacturers of corned beef, hot dogs and other products as local meat processors can still source from FMD-free FMEs in India.
FFF and MPL warned FMD is quick-spreading and greatly weakens cloven-hoofed animals such as hogs, cattle, carabaos, goats and sheep which may result in weaker output of their meat and milk.
The WOAH declared the Philippines as FMD-free in 2011 which allowed the country to export its livestock.
Based on latest data from the BAI, as of end-September 2024, only India supplied the Philippines with all the 30,375,576 kg of buffalo imported by the country for the period.
