HOG raisers in Pampanga are seeking the help of the National Government, specifically the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Animal Industry, to find a vaccine for African Swine Fever (ASF) that has been wreaking havoc in most of the piggery farms since 2019.
"The swine industry has lost P15 billion for the past six months alone this year. If this problem persists, hog raisers will surely end up losers with their businesses," said Trinidad Gonzales, spokesman of the Pampanga Swine Producers Association, whose members are composed mostly of large piggery farms in the province.
Gonzales said the P65-billion hog industry in Pampanga has repeatedly sent its appeal to the National Government to find ways and help the "dying business" brought about by ASF infestation.
He said the group can no longer meet the demands of local markets because of lack of supply.
One of the piggery farms in Pampanga, Gonzales said, has to depopulate 12,000 heads of hog to prevent the spread of ASF. He did not mention the owner of the farm.
"Our inventory for the whole province is only five percent and it's not enough to cover the demand for pork in the province alone. This translates to an increase of prices of pork meat per kilo due to limited supply in the market," said Gonzales.
He added that meat dealers have to rely for their supplies from Visayas and Mindanao, not to mention the imported meats from China citing affordability and much lower prices than local sources.
Prevailing prices for pork in Pampanga as press time soared to as high as P350 per kilo as compared to the P220 per kilo during ASF-free period.
Meanwhile, a total of 6,718 hog raisers in the province benefitted from the P32 million worth of livestock given by DA and the Provincial Government recently.
The initial aid is part of the recovery and rehabilitation program intended for those who were affected by ASF, which caused massive setbacks to the province's hog industry in October last year.
Governor Dennis Pineda said the rehabilitation program is an additional assistance to ASF-affected farmers to give them a chance to recover from their losses, especially with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"This project is a livelihood program given by Secretary William Dar and President Rodrigo Duterte in addition to the payment given to us for culled pigs last year. I hope through this, we can start again. We assure our hog raisers that we will not abandon them especially during this time of pandemic," Pineda said. (Chris Navarro)