DA eyes start of pork exports this year

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is hoping to be able to secure this year clearance from the World Organization for Animal Health to finally enable Philippine pork producers to export their products.

Plans to start exporting pork products last year were derailed by the detection of the Ebola Reston virus.

The clearance being sought by the Philippines is for foot and mouth disease.

According to Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Davinio Catbagan, the DA plans to submit soon all documents required to have Luzon certified as free of FMD and pave the way for the global declaration of the Philippines as an FMD-free country.

He said BAI would submit the paper requirements next month, in time for the meeting of the OIE’s Scientific Commission which is normally scheduled during the first two months of the year.

According to Catbagan, Luzon is the only remaining area in the country that has not yet been declared by the Office Internationale des Epizooties (OIE) or World Organization for Animal Health as FMD-free.

The OIE declared the entire Mindanao region FMD-free in May 2001, followed by the declaration of Masbate, Palawan and the entire Visayas in May 2002.

Catbagan said the DA aims to secure OIE certification for most of Luzon as FMD-free “without vaccination,” and the regions of Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) as FMD-free areas with vaccination.

Catbagan pointed out that the Philippines has not had an FMD outbreak in almost three years.

“Our papers are complete so we are now looking at the possibility of submitting our application to certify Luzon as FMD-free as well depending on the timetable of the OIE,” he said.

The last case of FMD was reported in Lucban, Quezon on Dec. 28, 2005.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that strikes cloven-hoofed animals.

According to Reildrin Morales, deputy head of the FMD National Task Force, the OIE has asked the government about sanitary checks on swill feeding in backyard farms.

Majority of backyard hog farmers who use swill either cook it or just add it to livestock feeds, Morales said.

“They thought that most hogs from backyard farms feed on swill, so we conducted a national survey to scientifically answer their questions,” Morales said.

Backyard farming accounts for 73 percent of the country’s hog production.

Morales said the OIE also asked the BAI about controls on hog transport between areas where vaccination is practiced and the areas that are less stringent on this requirement.