THE agriculture sector of Negros Occidental is getting a boost at the ongoing three-day Agrilink 2018 held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City starting Thursday.
Agrilink is one of the country’s biggest agribusiness exhibition and seminars organized by the Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development (FRLD) supported by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies.
This year’s team is “Efficient Value Chain in the Hog Industry: A Must for Continued Growth.”
Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena, who is attending the activity along with district veterinarians in the province, on Thursday said the agribusiness trade show is serving as a venue for “technical people” of the province’s livestock and poultry industry to be updated on the trends especially in terms of technology.
Decena said, through exhibitions and seminars, they can be able to learn current equipment needed for piggery, poultry, and post-harvest including those for slaughterhouses.
“This is very timely as the province is pushing for the establishment of its slaughterhouse for cattle and small ruminants,” he said, adding that “our participation in the Agrilink would enable us to learn new technology, including methodologies, which we can apply in the province for the benefit of local farmers and raisers.”
The provincial veterinarian pointed out that this year’s Agrilink underscores the development measures for the hog industry, which is one of the largest industries in the country along with rice.
For Negros Occidental, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) continues to implement programs aimed at developing the local hog industry.
Decena recalled that PVO is assisting the Sagay City Abattoir to cater to more hog raisers in the province and bringing its products to markets outside the province.
The local government-run slaughterhouse currently has a slaughtering capacity of 50 to 100 heads per hour and cold storage capacity of 50 to 100 tons of pork carcass, poultry, and other meat products.
On Tuesday, October 2, the abattoir was able to have its first shipment of 176 heads of slaughtered fattened pigs to Mandaue City, Cebu with Judphilan Foods Corporation as the buyer.
PVO earlier said that the province aims to eventually brand the pork carcasses produced at Sagay City Abattoir as “Negros Pork” reaching other markets in the country and export market as well.
“The province is upbeat to expand the production and marketing of carcasses to other animals like beef and chevon aside from pork,” Decena said, adding that “we really hope to gain a learning experience from the Agrilink especially on meat processing and storage.”
Moreover, Agrilink has grown into the country’s largest annual international agribusiness event, attracting hundreds of exhibitors and visitors since it started in 1994.
A good number of foreign or international companies from France, China, Korea, United States of America, Germany, Thailand, Netherlands, and other Asian countries were among the exhibitors, the organizer said on its website.
Visitors are consist of entrepreneurs and professionals in animal breeding, machinery, and equipment, animal health, and nutrition, aquaculture, grains, organic farming, horticulture, among others, it added.
Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino, who is also attending the activity, said Negros Occidental was also able to display the products of local farmers at the booth of the DA–6 as the activity also has other segments like Foodlink and Aqualink.
Foodlink is the annual exhibition for food products, and processing and packaging industries where leading international equipment suppliers showcase their knowledge and technology to the local food industry.
Aqualink is also an annual exhibition for the fisheries sector focusing on industry updates like new products and technologies.
Masculino said the products showcased by the province include processed food like tablea and banana chips, among others.
These are on top of other processed agricultural products showcased at the booth of Negros Occidental, through the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, like the locally-produced cheese, he added.
“We get to display and promote products of our farmers and hopefully develop more markets so that we can level up production if necessary,” Masculino said, adding that the activity also showcases a lot of machinery, which the province might allocate funds for local crops and livestock industry use.