Surge in local hog production expected
Credit to Author: EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ| Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:17:04 +0000
Despite the threats posed by the dreaded African Swine Fever (ASF), the government is expecting a surge in local production of hogs.
“We are projecting that within the year, our production of hogs will surge that’s why we prepared an importation of 300,000 metric tons of corn because we might fall short due to what happened in our corn industry because of El Niño,” According Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a recent interview.
He said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has also approved the DA’s proposal to plant an additional 100,000 hectares to corn and another 100,000 hectares to sorghum this year to support the growth of the country’s poultry and hog sector.
The DA’s corn expansion program would increase production by 600,000 metric tons (MT) for this year while that of sorghum is projected to produce an additional output of 400,000 MT, Piñol said.
He said the ASF is now threatening the hog industry worldwide, with China increasing demand for pork as its hog population is currently being wiped out by the virus.
ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease of domestic and wild pigs of all ages, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). There are no effective preventive vaccines or cures, and the mortality rate is as high as 100 percent.
The multiple outbreaks and rapid spread of ASF in China has led to the spread of the virus among Asian nations including Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia. Other countries affected by the ASF are Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa and Zambia.
“On Monday, I will submit to the President my proposal for us to have a temporary suspension on importation from ASF high-risk areas,” or those near the areas struck by the virus, Piñol said.
“Out timeline is about three months. We will just establish stringent quarantine measures that we be allowed to procure x-ray machines where all luggages of incoming passengerss would have to go to just like how they do it in Australia and other advanced countries they [prioritize] biosecurity,” he added.
According to Piñol, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade had also approved DA’s proposal to require airlines flying to the Philippines from ASF-affected and high risk countries to issue advisories to
passengers against bringing meat into the country.
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