July 4, 2023

 

Philippines' Vitarich takes step forward into hog production despite lingering ASF threat

 

 

Philippines animal feed producer Vitarich Corp has entered the hog production business even as threats from the African swine fever (ASF) remained.

 

With the expected recovery of the industry next year, Vitarich president and chief executive officer Ricardo Manuel Sarmiento said the listed firm has "reestablished efforts to get into hog (production) primarily through piglet production."

 

Sarmiento said diversification into hog production was originally planned for 2021 but the spread of the animal disease hampered full-scale efforts.

 

"We're looking for a site now [where we can] put the sows in our current farm," he told reporters, adding the hogs should be available before July 2024.

 

The listed firm's target is to have up to 200 sows per site in multiple, but smaller areas in green zones. These zones have no reported cases of ASF such as Central Luzon and North Luzon.

 

"Central Luzon is mostly [in the] red [zone] but … we have a farm in Bulacan that got hit, but after a year, it became free of the disease. We sent sentinel animals and they didn't die, so we're [producing there] now," he said.

 

"So, it's the offsprings of that farm which we will use to expand into another site," Sarmiento added, noting Vitarich would start with small sites and not big ones because if "they're hit, we don't want to lose everything."

 

He said the current plan was not contingent on the approval of an ASF vaccine, but its entry would help the swine industry "tremendously."

 

"With or without the vaccines, we have plans to ramp up output by next year. If the vaccines come, we can be more aggressive," Sarmiento said.

 

The Avac ASF live vaccine produced in Vietnam has been endorsed to the Food and Drug Administration for the latter's review and approval. The Philippines' Bureau of Animal Industry recently said the vaccine may cost around ₱600 (US$10.85) per dose.

 

In the meantime, Vitarich is beefing up and redesigning its biosecurity measures by initiating campaigns to raise awareness and support on-farm biosecurity practices.

 

- Inquirer