February 6, 2009
Central Mindanao pork sector eyes Philippine capital
Officials in North Cotabato are working out a way to market frozen pork products in Manila to boost the income of local hog raisers.
North Cotabato Vice-Governor Emmanuel F. Pinol said negotiations have been under way with an unidentified pork buyer in Manila who could provide better prices for local hog raisers.
Hogs from local raisers will be processed at the Matutum Meat Packing Corp. in neighbouring Polomolok, South Cotabato and brought to Manila where they will be sold at a price higher than what is offered to raisers in the province.
Pinol said this will be very good for backyard hog raisers.
He added that the project also included the establishment of a piglet production centre where sows will be raised and distributed to hog raisers at a lower price.
Matutum Meat Packing Corp., which operates a modern P200 million (US$ pork processing plant in Barangay Glamang, was the only Philippine company accredited by Singapore to export cut pork products in the island-state.
Philippine pork exports were supposed to take off last December, but the detection of the Ebola Reston virus among pigs in Luzon aborted the shipment.
The export ban imposed by the Agriculture department has yet to be lifted, as the government and industry awaits the findings of an international team that is studying the outbreak.
Pinol said he already met local hog raisers twice to discuss the details of the plan to ship to Manila.
He also said providing a better market for local hog meat is not the only target of the project and the second part of the project will be the establishment of a local feed mill that will process feeds for the local hog raisers at a lower price.
He said that if a local feed mill is established in the province, local yellow corn producers will be provided with a steady market, jobs could be provided for local labor, and lower-priced feeds will be available for local hog raisers.
He also said that such set-up will increase income -generating opportunity for hog raisers, the bulk of which are backyard raisers.
