KALIBO, Aklan – The farm gate prices of live hogs in Aklan have gone down between P130 and P135 per kilogram, the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office said.
Regional Executive Director Remelyn Recoter said the prices from June 21 to 25 were monitored at such average price range per kilo compared to P170 per kilo last March and April.
The lower farmgate prices resulted also to lower retail cost of pork.
“Pag mataas ang farm gate prices, mataas din ang presyo sa mga local markets,” she said.
Pork products in wet markets are currently sold at P170 to as much as P180 per kilo.
From May 31 to June 4, the regional office monitored retail price of P250 per kilo (pork belly liempo) and P240 per kilo (pork ham kasim) in Aklan.
Retail price monitoring from April 19 to 24 also showed retail prices of pork belly (liempo) at P250 per kilo, while pork ham (kasim) at P232.50 per kilo.
The pork products in February were sold at P350 to P400 per kilo at select markets especially in Metro Manila due to lack of supply in Luzon.
Western Visayas, still free from the African swine fever (ASF), continues to ship live hogs and swine products from Iloilo port to Luzon and its neighboring provinces.
Recoter said ASF-prevention is also intensified in the region by tightening the quarantine checkpoints and inspection of pork products in airports and seaports.
DA also designated biosecurity officers in the barangays as frontliners of the “Bantay ASF sa Barangay Program” to strengthen surveillance, management and monitoring of ASF in the barangay level./PN
