February 2, 2007

 

Mindanao eyed as export hub for pork, meat products

 

 

The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) said Mindanao has the potential to become an "export hub" for pork and processed meat as it is an ideal site for breeder farms, given the fact that the region is a major producer of corn.

 

The Business Mirror Daily quoted Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap as saying Mindanao is also currently free from the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and has a number of breeder farms and meat-processing facilities which makes the region more ideal as a centre for international pork and meat trade.

 

The swine subsector posted gross revenues of P126.5 billion (US$2.59 billion) last year, making it the biggest farm-based industry next to the palay (rice grains) subsector. 

 

The predominance of breeder farms and meat-processing facilities like the state-of-the-art breeding facilities of Hypig Genetics Inc in Lantapan, Bukidnon is another factor that makes the region a precise area for swine commerce.

 

Yap was in Mindanao for the launching of Hypig Genetics at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City. 

 

A partnership of Bounty Fresh and Hypor BV , Hypig Genetics has established two breeding plants in its Kelsey Farm in Bukidnon, where great grandparent (GGP) and grandparent (GP) stocks from Hypor genetic nucleus farms in Canada are being bred. GP stocks are being raised in these facilities for distribution to pig farms in Mindanao and the Visayas.

 

Local growers exported US$650,000 worth of processed-meat products in the January to September 2006 period alone to Micronesia, United Arab Emirates, Marshall Islands, United States, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Pacific Trust territories, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Italy.

 

Swine raisers and pork processors in Mindanao are eyeing Singapore as a new export destination for their produce, he said. 

 

The DA will continue to implement programs for the swine industry such as the Swine Breeders Farm Accreditation Program aimed at increasing the production of superior farm animals and genetic materials, he said.

 

Twenty-two breeder farms have been accredited under this program since 2003, said Yap, and Hypig Genetics is expected to soon join this elite club of top-calibre breeders.

 

To help keep commercially grown animals disease-free, he said the National FMD Task Force is implementing "progressive zoning" with the help of local government units (LGUs), commercial farms and slaughterhouses.

 

According to Yap, the task force, in partnership with LGUs, will establish more quarantine checkpoints along major roads, seaports and airports as well as the formulation and implementation of local ordinances to keep respective localities FMD-free.

 

The Philippines has been entirely FMD-free since January last year, the first time in ten years that the country has been free of this disease that plagued local hog farms since 1800s.

 

The FMD Task Force led by the Bureau of Animal Industry reported last December a 67-percent reduction rate in outbreaks in 2005 compared to 2004 levels following an intensive campaign via the "progressive zoning approach."

 

Yap pointed out that the success of the local hog industry stems from the increasing population of quality breeder and commercial stocks, and government efforts to protect such stocks from FMD and other major diseases.