Hot meat scalding swine industry

The local swine industry is ailing if it is not yet dying. It all boils down to the flooding of pork, carabeef and other frozen meats in the domestic market, resulting in unprecedented plunging prices, dwindling business opportunities and loss of jobs.

It is not only the legal importation that the industry has to contend with but the dumping here of contraband commodities, as well. This hot meat in large smuggled volumes – coupled with unregulated importation – is scalding the swine industry and allied industries.

The domestic swine industry, valued at P83.535 billion, directly employs 45,000 individuals. Some 2.25 million individuals are directly dependent on the industry. They are mostly backyard hog raisers based in the countryside. Backyard raisers – with an average of four pigs per family – comprise 80 percent of the enterprise; commercial raisers at varying sizes of operations comprise the remaining 20 percent.

Industry leaders say their average inventory stays at 10 million head at any given time. So, they are puzzled why the massive meat sourcing from abroad – both legal and illegal.

In a letter to both Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Senate agriculture chairman and Rep. Alfredo Marañon, House agriculture committee chairman, the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. (NFHFI) has asked Congress to regulate with appropriate legislation the flooding of local meat markets across the country.

Laments NFHFI National Chairman Nemesio G. Co: "Today, the survival of the domestic swine industry is threatened and we are very worried of the rising volume of meat supply from abroad and the resulting low prices."

For the first time in the history of the Philippine swine industry, farm gate prices started to decrease as early as April unlike in previous years when prices would continue to go up and peak in May. Usually, farm gate prices would start to drop only in the June-July period. To date live farm gate prices of hogs – P74-P75 per kilo in April – has nosedived 35 percent to P55 per kilo. This translates into a loss of P1,200 per head of hog to the farmers.

Another curious situation is that the annual reduction in farm gate prices range only from P5 to P10 on a per kilo basis. This year, farm gate prices have plunged by P14 to P17 per kilo. It was only in the year 1995 when the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) panic among consumers caused the collapse of prices to as much as P17 as consumption went down.

These adverse turn of events will seriously affect small backyard hog raisers and businessmen and workers in allied industries like corn and copra farming, veterinary medicine manufacturing, feed milling and feed hauling. Not to mention the employees and workers of commercial growers. In all, 4.25 million people are dependent on the swine industry.

Other industries, allied to the swine industry, are also hard hit. One example is Limcona Multi-Purpose Cooperative, the country‘s leading agricultural cooperative, the first feed mill cooperative to be ISO 9001:2001 certified.

In an appeal to President Arroyo, the cooperative with 5,500 members and small-scale livestock and poultry farmers expressed concern through its president, Nicanor M. Briones, with the way things are going on the business front:

"With the influx of imported meat (beef, pork, chicken), egg powder and meat products, the farm gate prices of locally produced products have drastically dropped. As such, the incomes of our small-scale farmers have gravely been affected.

"In May of this year alone, farm gate price of hogs was P70 per kilo. It decreased to only P55 per kilo to date or a 21-percent decrease in only five months. This converts to P1,200-loss per head of hog to the farmers.

"We appeal to the President, Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to limit and control the importation of the said products to save our small-scale farmers from total deprivation of incomes and total loss of their resources."

NFHFI leaders say they would be reeling from a 41-percent upswing in legal processed meat imports this year – in a nine-month period imports have reached P35.2 million (total projected worth for this year is P49.3 million) from P32.65 million in the whole of the previous year. (To be continued)