May 29, 2012

Philippine government aims meat self-sufficiency by 2016

The Philippine Department of Agriculture will ramp up the country's meat production to attain self-sufficiency in meat by 2016 and to supply the meat requirement of other regions in the next 10 years.

According to Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Executive Director Antonio G. Gerundio, this goal is included in the agency's livestock and poultry road map which aims to eliminate barriers to the growth of the industry in the region.

Among these constraints, he noted, are low breeder base, high cost of breeder and commercial stocks, poor access to technology, high input cost, diseases incidence, influx of cheap imports, smuggling, and the wide gap between retail price and farmgate price.

Gerundio said "there is a need to give more attention to the livestock sector since they are less vulnerable to climate change" He added that the animals can be raised in the backyard which makes them less exposed to nature, unlike crops.

Gerundio also said that considering the lesser risk of the livestock sector to global warming, this can help uplift the economic status of many poor farmers.

Under the road map, the DA aims to increase the number of existing counts of livestock to 316,000 heads of carabao; 23,000 heads of cattle; 186,000 heads of goats; 900,000 heads of hogs, and 4.5 million heads of chicken.

Latest Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (BAS) data shows that as of mid-2011, the region has 306,966 carabaos; 14,596 cattle; 86,694 goats; 636,179 hogs; and 3.08 million heads of chicken.

Citing BAS reports, DA livestock program coordinator Andrew T. Orais said that the region is sufficient in pork, carabeef and chicken meat but there's a need to sustain activities for the region to send surplus to other parts of the country.

Orais said that in all commodities, the region is about 80% sufficient and the sector's weak point is on the supply of eggs wherein we are only 40% self-sufficient because of low local feed requirement.

From January to June 2011, the region produced only 1,693 metric tons (mt) of eggs; lower than Central Visayas' 20,128 mt; and Western Visayas' 14,618 mt. The province of Cebu remains the major source of Region 8's egg supply.

The DA said that they aim to increase egg production by 3% in the next five years under the new road map. The road map will focus on disease control and eradication, genetic resource improvement, meat safety and quality, capability development, and stronger public and private partnerships.

In terms of genetic improvement, the DA will introduce superior quality genetics through the male breeder loan program, unified national artificial insemination program, and production farm development.

On animal health, the DA will assess the geographical distribution and monitoring of diseases occurrences in the community using the Philippine Animal Health Information System.

Among the animal diseases noted in the past are hemorrhagic septicemia, surra/trypanosomosis, newcastle disease, hog cholera, fasciolosis and rabies.

In the past two years, Orais said there has been no major disease incidence that threatened the region except for sporadic cases which are not alarming.