Hogwash

Are you wondering why prices of pork, beef, and chicken are way, way below the prices in wet markets? Has it ever occurred to you that the reasons for such low prices are smuggling and over-importation? Have you thought that these meats could have been smuggled from countries whose livestock is infested with FMD (food and mouth disease)?

We had a talk with hog-raisers last week, and found out that they are for a long time they have been up in arms and that they fear that the P80-billion industry is nearing the verge of collapse if the government does not do anything about it.

Around 45,000 people are directly employed and some 2.5 million others are directly dependent on the industry. Some two million more people, including feed mill producers and those employed in veterinary pharmaceutical firms, indirectly benefit from the swine industry. There are, of course, millions of Filipino pork eaters who may no longer find pork meat raised by commercial and backyard hog-raisers in the supermarkets and wet markets.

And the reason for this dismal state of affairs is – smuggling and over-importation.

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Last February 26, the Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. wrote the new Secretary of Agriculture Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. that the problem of smuggling has plagued the swine industry for many years. It said that the volume of carabao meat importation from India continued to be high, resulting in the continued uncontrolled sales of carabao meat in the local wet market. This has greatly displaced the local pork sold in the wet markets as it is sold at much lower prices. India, by the way, is declared as not FMD-free.

Last year, the federation officials, through their president, Albert R.T. Lim Jr., said, for the first time in the history of the local swine industry, farm gate prices decreased by as early as April, wherein normally, for the past 20 years, farm gate prices started their decline only by late June or even July. This drastic decrease was caused by the unusually high carabao meat imports for the months of January to April 2002.

The hog-raisers feel they are alone in their battle to combat smuggling.

The Livestock Division of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has not helped them lick the problem. Worse, they "audaciously throw salt into our wounds by going to Brazil, Argentina, and even Korea and China to explore and verify possible importation sources for meat processors," said Lim.

The February-March 2003 issue of Asian Pork printed in Singapore bannered in its news section item, "Philippines open (sic) markets to China and Brazil," and said that the DA had accredited 20 Chinese and 20 Brazilian firms to export processed meat and poultry products to the Philippines in an effort to diversify the country’s sources of imported meat.

Lim said that the hog industry is "suffering from health problems" which have resulted in many farms experiencing unusually high mortality rates. We feel that government should take the initiative to assist us in this problem." The Bureau of Animal Industry has "not done anything to correct the situation".

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As of last year, government-recorded imports of pork amounted to 41,827,936 kilos, and beef to 42,999,933. According to Teddy Locsin, a hog-raiser in Bacolod, imports worth billions of pesos means "money taken out of the local system. No matter how cheap the products being sold are, we are bringing out the money (and giving them to importers.)" If legally imported, but over-imported pork has a negative effect on the domestic swine industry, what more of the effect of smuggled meats? The effect on backyard producers of both legal and technical smuggling is bad.

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The P80-billion industry is made up of 80 per cent backyard hog raisers and 20 per cent commercial raisers. The hog-raisers have formed themselves into several organizations. The Federation of Hog Farmers (with Lim as president and Nemesio G. Co as national chairman, have 21 association members spread over Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, with 260,000 sow level. Another group led by Gabby Uy, has eight associations in Luzon, with about 10,000 sow level. In the sideline are the Philippine Swine Producers Association, with nine association members and 120,000 sow level, and the United Swine Producers Association. Independent raisers, mostly based in Central Luzon, with from 150,000 to 200,000 sow level.

The complaints of the industry seemed not to be taken seriously by previous administrations. But some farmers are not about to just sit by and close shop. One of them, Nicanor M. Briones, president of the Agricultural Sector

Alliance of the Philippines, Inc. (ASAP), with farmer-members from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon province, began to raise a howl. Also president of LIMCOMA, one of the biggest cooperatives of the country, with an asset base of over P500-million and composed of 5,600 backyard raisers, he convinced the farmers that they would march to Malacañang if they did not listen to and answer their problems. Now, Malacanang is listening – thanks to the sympathetic ear of the new agricultural secretary.

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Imported carabao or buffalo meat (or carabeef) is supposedly for the exclusive use of food processors, who claim that there is no adequate supply of prime cuts as manufacturing grade beef, pork bellies, pork fats, pork offal (internal organs), pork rind/skin.

Some processors use carabeef, for example, for their corn beef, which is why local corn beef is more expensive than the real corn beef brought home by Balikbayans or sold at supermarket shelves for imported goods. The thing is that food processors do not indicate their using carabeef. Nor do supermarket owners say the frozen ribs and sirloin you buy are disguised carabeef.

However, the NFHR has expressed fears that carabao meat imports do find their way into wet markets, canteens and supermarkets – at prices lower than domestic prices. The health risk is that the meat may be infected with FMD.

Meat processing kills off the FMD virus, but consumers of infected meats have no protection from the virus.

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Lim said that today, most, if not all, restaurants, are buying imported pork at substantially reduced prices "because of flagrant uncontrolled smuggling. If taxes are properly paid, the imported choice cuts of pork should be costlier than the local counterpart."

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Government action to prevent smuggling of meat was manifested by the swooping down of the Anti-Smuggling Task Force on the Port of Manila which found an confiscated the contents of 15 reefer vans out of 127 unclaimed vans up for inspection. Some of these had been declared as fruits and other commodities. The raiding team was composed of Secretary Lorenzo, Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo, Finance secretary Jose Isidro Camacho an and Presidential security Group Chief Gen. Germogenes Esperon.

As of this writing, Teddy Locsin sent me a texted message saying that Secretary Lorenzo, with the federation of Lim, made a presentation of how the industry can be protected and allowed to grow.

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