Mindanao hog farmers want separate biosecurity region

Hog producers in Mindanao want the Philippine government to declare the region as a biosecurity area separate from Luzon and the Visayas.

The separation could avoid the national tagging of Mindanao's meat products as being affected by viruses when meat products from the other main regions in the country are found infected. The move, if successful, could also help push Mindanao's pork products abroad.

Initial attempts by Mindanao hog producers to export their products were blocked by the detection of the Ebola Reston virus in pork products from Luzon last December.

Singapore, a potential market for Mindanao pork exports, and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) recognised Mindanao as a source of healthy pork supply and free from the foot-and-mouth disease, respectively. However, pork exports to Singapore were suspended in 2008 after several hogs raised in Luzon were detected with the Ebola Reston virus.

The arrangement has lumped Mindanao with Luzon and Visayas in the reporting of biosecurity issues.

The hog raisers cited examples in the US, Canada and India, where states or regions are strategically protected under safety protocols so as not to hinder potential market and industry setbacks.

The hog raisers proposed that a government- and private organisations-assisted Mindanao Pork Producers Council be created to lead the direction in the biosecurity regionalisation of Mindanao's swine industry.

The immediate implementation of Mindanao's regionalisation will open new doors of strategic and tangible export markets, said the hog raisers.

The hog farmers believed that the Philippines could penetrate other Asian countries if it could enter Singapore's pork market.