April 16, 2004

Philippine Hog Producers Hit By Pork Imports, High Feed Prices

Hog producers in the Philippines have been hit hard by the importation of smuggled pork and high feed prices in recent weeks. Close to 40% of hog raisers and other livestock producers in central Luzon have had to close their operations as a result.
 
Lito Hizon, president of the Bulacan-based Livestock Raisers Association of Pandi (LRAP), asked the government to look into the sorry state of livestock raisers and prevent meat importation and smuggling.
 
He also blamed the high cost of corn and soya beans, the principal food of commercial pigs, for the closure
 
"Importers and smugglers are virtually eating us alive. Many hog farmers have closed shop," he said.
 
He claimed that many smugglers have been using Subic Bay as their entry and exit points after the confiscation of illegal meat at the Batangas port a month ago.
 
"They (smugglers) are just shifting from one port to another," he said.
 
He said importers and smugglers have flooded the markets and even supermarkets with very cheap meat, thus killing the local hog-raising industry.
 
LRAP, along with the National Federation of Hog Farmers of the Philippines, asked the agriculture department to level the playing field.
 
Meanwhile, Nicanor Briones, president of the Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines, appealed for greater transparency in the investigation of Agriculture Undersecretary Cesar Drilon and chief legal officer Benjamin Tablos for their alleged involvement in the illegal entry of smuggled chicken meat at the Batangas port.