September 30, 2009

Hog raisers in Mindanao will ship thousands of live hogs monthly to Metro Manila in the last quarter of the year, anticipating a shortage in the wake of culling of hogs in Luzon during the ebola reston virus (ERV) outbreak.

 

Davao region alone can send 5,000 heads of hogs monthly, Northern Mindanao, 1,800 heads; Zamboanga Peninsula, 2,000 heads; while Central Mindanao has committed to contribute a still undetermined amount, said Rafael T. Mercado, head of the Livestock Division of the Department of Agriculture's Davao Region office.

 

Last February, Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary Arthur Yap ordered the slaughter of 6,000 pigs to arrest the spread of the ERV from farms in Tarlac, Bulacan, parts of Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

 

Mercado said the Davao Region has a surplus of about 500 tonnes per month, or roughly 5,000 heads. In the second quarter of this year, Davao production slightly increased to 29,472 tonnes of live weight, compared with the 29,081 tonnes recorded in the same period last year.

 

Based on the official statistics, there were 34,320 heads of hogs shipped out at the Davao port in the first half.

 

Metro Manila is the least favoured market for the region's hog raisers with only 447 heads shipped between January to June, due to distance and the high cost of transport.

 

In comparison, Cebu got from Davao 14,214 heads in the same period; followed by Bukidnon with 7,440 heads; Maasin (Leyte), 4,342 heads; Surigao, 2,700 heads.