ILOILO CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas is looking forward to open more markets for hog raisers in the region.
“Hopefully with the opening up of the economy, our usual market which is Boracay and Iloilo City will increase also their demands for pork products,” Engr. Remelyn Recoter, regional executive director of DA 6 said Tuesday.
According to her, hog raisers in the region enjoy the high buying price of live hogs at P150 to P170 per kilo. This, she said, they were unable to enjoy in the past years.
Meanwhile, Antique recorded the highest buying price at P170 per kilo. It caused the market price of pork to hit P270 a kilo.
On the other hand, the hog population in the region reached over one million based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s inventory.
Western Visayas has so far sent around 75,000 heads to Luzon last year, while around 70,000 live heads were shipped out of the region.
“The supply deficit in Manila due to the ASF (African swine fever) was seen as an opportunity for those in the green zones (ASF-free areas) to ship out their products,” she said.
However, she anticipated that with the arrival of the imported pork, there will be a decrease in the number of shipment to Manila.
Hog stocks are also expected to increase with the repopulation programs to be launched by the DA and the local breeders.PNA/PN
