A GROUP of hog raisers in Davao Region expressed concern on the drop of sales among lechoneros and backyard hog raisers to about 40 percent.
Hog Farmers Association of Davao Inc. (Hogfadi) president Eduardo So said Wednesday, February 19, that the farm gate prices of live hogs had gone down from P105 per kilogram (kg) to about P90 per kg or P85 per kg.
"Even the lechoneros in Chavez [Street] are already complaining about the drop of their sales of more than 40 percent," he said.
He said the backyard hog raisers were forced to lower their prices because of the slow demand, which So blamed to a series of lockdowns and misleading information insinuated by restaurants about the African Swine Fever (ASF).
He said some restaurants have announced unavailability of pork meals on their menus with side notes like "Iwas ASF."
These kinds of messaging, he said, instilled fear in the people consuming pork when the disease only affects pigs.
"What do you mean by 'Iwas ASF'? Ang kumakain tao naman, hindi naman baboy. It is not really infecting people, only pigs (Pork is consumed by people, not pigs)," he said.
"The effect of the culling is very minimal. Ang drop in prices because of the fear of the consumption of the consumer na ayaw kumain is killing the industry," he added.
Based on the records of Hogfadi, there are an estimated 126,000 backyard hog raisers in Davao Region, tending to around 760,000 swine heads.
The commercial hog farmers are raising about 181,000 swine heads, totaling to about 941,000 swine heads in Davao Region as of January this year.
So said it comprised 73 percent of the total hog production in Mindanao.
Aside from the misinformation, the inclusion of the non-ASF infected areas in the region in the implementation of lockdown has dragged the demand further.
"Bakit ila-lockdown kung hindi naman... pati yung non-infected areas nila-lock down. Lockdown has an impact because may areas na kailangan ng karne, hindi kami maka-travel papunta doon (Why are you going to lockdown areas which are not affected by ASF? We cannot deliver to our customers because of these lockdowns)," he said.
So said the association will be meeting with the regional directors of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to plan out concrete protocols to address the lockdowns.
DA-Davao information officer Noel Provido said the agency will also meet with governors and mayors since the lockdowns are issued by the local chief executives.