The total ban of pork and pork products from Luzon should be extended until the provinces are assured that the country is free from African swine fever virus, the presidential assistant for the Visayas said Monday.
READ: Identify goods tainted with ASF—solon
“There’s only one way of protecting our region’s hog industry. That is to make sure that the ASF virus is contained,” said Michael Dino, presidential assistant for the Visayas.
Dino said he wrote President Rodrigo Duterte over the weekend informing him about the possibility of extending the ban to ensure that the virus is contained and will not affect the P20-billion hog industry in Central Visayas.
He said he asked the President to support the initiatives by the four governors in the region to protect their provinces against the entry of meat and meat products derived from pigs or processed in Luzon areas where the ASF outbreak has been declared.
He said the ban imposed by the governors could be indefinitely extended until the government declares that the country is free from ASF virus.
In his letter, Dino said the “Visayas Islands have a significant chance of protection” from the disease.
He lauded the move of the governors in sealing off the provinces in Central Visayas, which is also aimed at protecting the livelihood of backyard farmers, who constitute around 70 percent of the hog industry in the region.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia had issued an executive order imposing a 100-day total ban on the entry of pork and pork-related products originating from Luzon.
Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap, Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and Siquijor Gov. Zaldy Villa also imposed similar bans.
About 58 provinces out of 81 in the country are protecting their hog industry by imposing the ban.
“There is a high risk of contaminating the local hog industry run by backyard farmers who augment their feeds with leftover food collected from different food service establishments,” Dino said in an earlier statement.
Dino said in the memo that since the imposition of the ban, there has been a 10 percent surplus in the supply of pork in the region.
He also noted a stability in pork prices as shown in the price monitoring done by the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division of the Department of Agriculture Region 7 (AMAD-DA 7) from July 5 to Oct. 2 this year.
READ: DA to release results of tests on seized meats
On Tuesday, the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. urged its members to refrain from using local pork as ingredient for pork-based meat products as a response to the government’s call to mitigate the spread of ASF.
“Because of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) test results leaked by some hog raisers themselves, and the continued warning of the Department of Agriculture to local swine groups not to feed swill to their pigs, we believe that it is safer for the meat processing industry not to buy local pork until they are able to assure government authorities and the consuming public that local pork is ASF-free,” said PAMPI spokesman Rex Agarrado.
He noted that several meat processors have already stopped buying local pork as a result of the latest findings.
“We urge authorities to randomly test for ASF pork not just here in Luzon but even in the Visayas and Mindanao areas to restore consumer confidence,” Agarrado said.
The group said it decided to halt all purchases of pork from local producers until such time that clear and enforceable policies on movement, distribution and sale of processed pork products are in place.
PAMPI said it respects the authority of LGUs to protect the welfare of their constituents in the agriculture sector but at the same time, pleaded that such protection be also accorded to other vital sectors of the economy.
The group stressed that repeated assurances by health authorities about ASF not affecting human safety will not in any way help the meat processing industry if the government will continue to seize and ban all pork-based meat products.
Due to these market interventions and the persisting ASF scare, sales from pork-based products declined by 40 percent, the association said.
Total pork imports last year came to 392,000 metric tons, and about half of these were for meat processing. On top of this, the meat processing industry sourced an additional 15,000 MT from local pork producers.
“We are watching and waiting for goverment’s directions on the way ASF will be handled before we decide if we’re reducing imports in 2020,” Agarrado said.
The bulk of the pork imports come from ASF-free countries in Europe, the USA and Canada.
PAMPI is the country’s largest group of meat processors, consisting of 88 member-companies, generating more than P300 billion in sales annually and employing 150,000 direct employees and another 200,000 employees in allied sectors.
In related developments:
The Bureau of Customs said it seized two container vans of imported pork and other meat products from China believe to be infected with ASF worth more than P3.5 million. The BOC said the seized meat products arrived at the South Harbor on Oct.12 from China and were consigned to Jeniti International Trading and was processed by Customs broker Arlene De Mateo Gonzales.
Based on the initial report, the consignee misdeclared the shipment as tomato paste and vermicelli with a total declared duties and taxes of P288,576.00. But upon physical examination, Customs examiners found an estimated P3.5 million worth of pork and other meat products.
The Associate Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said pronouncements by government agencies about meat products tainted with ASF may trigger job losses.
“Thousands of workers might lose their jobs caused by misinformation and confusion made by different government officials speaking differently about the ASF virus,” said ALU-TUCP national executive vice president Gerard Seno.
“Government must be in control, they must combine and pull their acts together and speak and move as one. Right now, the lack of coordination and the right information about the virus are driving misinformation and fear among consumers,” Seno said.