TO PROTECT the country’s swine industry from the deadly African Swine Fever (ASF), industry players are urging backyard hog farmers to invest in technology and adopt modern and best practices in hog farming.

Paul Holaysan, president and chief operating officer of Excelsior Farms Inc., said the current condition of the country’s hog industry needs more improvement in terms of machineries and practices.

“Our hog industry is really vital in our country. We are really left behind in terms of technology on genetics, machineries, equipment, buildings and good nutrition. We bond together here to innovate on our production practices, on how we run the farm and how we raise our hogs,” Holaysan said.

Even if the Philippines continues to be free from ASF, Holaysan said they coordinated with government agencies to boost the prevention efforts as outbreaks in neighboring countries are still reported.

“The goal is to ensure that we keep it away and that goes with properly implementing controls within our borders so we don’t move infected pork from affected countries. If we could continue to do that, then definitely, we can ensure that supply will be secured for the local population,” he said.

ASF is a virus that only affects pigs. The virus can survive for 1,000 days even in frozen meat.

In the latest figures of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Central Visayas is fifth biggest swine producer in the country while the Philippines is eight biggest swine producer in the world.

The identified countries with ASF outbreaks are South Africa, Zambia, China, Russia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Belgium, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Meat importation from these countries has been banned since the DA released an order in August 2018. While the disease is not considered a “human health threat,” the Food and Drug Administration said the disease will cause major economic loss in the swine industry.

Supply and demand

Vincent Borromeo, country general manager of the Pig Improvement Company (PIC) Philippines, said the local pork supply is still low vis-a-vis the market demand, the reason there is a strong campaign for modernization in hog farming.

“We’ve had to get farmers to be more efficient so we could actually produce more for the growing population. If farmers will start to adopt modern hog practices then we know we could be self-sufficient,” he said.

Sixty percent of the country’s hog industry is composed of backyard farmers.

Patrick Ty, country manager of Big Dutchman Philippines, said they import one million kilos of pork a day, which is 15 percent of the total consumption.

“We import 360,000 tons per year and our consumption is 15 kilos per Filipino a year. That’s around 1.5 billion kilos per year,” Ty said.

On Friday, July 5, 2019, 50 members of the Makati-based Anvil Business Club visited Excelsior’s Swinenovation Learning Center to explore opportunities in modern swine farming.

“For the five years that Excelsior is existing, we have shown to the industry that technology is the key factor of success in hog farming,” Holaysan said.

Charles Ng of the Anvil Business Club, which is composed of Chinese-Filipino entrepreneurs, said they have members who own piggery farms and are keen to learn more about the industry.

“There’s a huge business opportunity,” he said. Ng added that it is also their responsibility as business owners to help the government attain food sufficiency. (JOB)