P’sinan hog raisers seek gov’t help

DAGUPAN CITY — Hog raisers in Pangasinan are seeking government help to save their dying industry through stringent measures against the smuggling of pork, particularly from China.

Dr. Rodolfo Custodio, president of the Pangasinan Hog Raisers Cooperative, told The STAR that 20 of their more than 50 members have closed up shop due to huge losses.

Custodio said various diseases afflicting hogs like transmissible gastroenteritis — characterized by diarrhea, vomiting or dehydration, wiping out all hogs in a farm once it strikes — contributed to the hog farms’ closure.

Custodio also blamed the importation of pork from non-accredited countries like China which he said is not authorized by the Bureau of Animal Industry and National Meat Inspection Service.

He said China is also not a member of the international organization monitoring the outbreak of hog diseases.

"Pork smuggling is killing the hog industry, especially the backyard and commercial hog farms," he said.

In the Philippines, he said backyard piggeries contribute 70 percent of the hog population, and the rest, by the commercial farms.

Custodio said Pangasinan boasts of one of the big hog populations in Luzon.

He said they have written Malacañang and the Department of Agriculture to seek the revival of the Anti-Smuggling Task Force.

"There is no monitoring now," he said, adding that only the National Federation of Hog Raisers, composed of more than 50 regional groups, including theirs, is doing the job.

He said they plan to hold a three- to four-day pig holiday if the government does not heed their call.

He said they used to enjoy good pork prices during the last quarter of the year, but in 2006, prices did not move and the farmgate price per kilo even dropped to as low as P70, compared with the cost of production which was P80 per kilo.

Custodio also bewailed the spread of text messages alleging that smuggled rotten pork had gone into the making of ham, thus greatly affecting the sales of meat processors during the holidays.

Unlike hog raisers, he said chicken growers had a heyday during the holidays as they enjoyed a farmgate price of P85 per kilo.