ILOILO – The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVOs) made this assurance: There is ample supply of live hogs in this province.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Provincial Veterinarian Darel Tabuada said the province had a total of 408,270 swine heads – 84 percent from backyards while the remaining from commercial farms.
Of the total number of hogs, some 35,136 heads were delivered to Metro Manila between January and April 15, 2021, Tabuada told Panay News.
Compared to last year’s inventory in the same period – there were 450,000 swine heads recorded then – the official said there’s obviously a decrease.
But as long as hog buyers follow protocols, “kami sa PVO indi kami ma-alarma,” Tabuada said.
“Indi sila magbakal sang baboy nga less than 80 kilos kay kon magpagwa kita sang baboy bisan gamay pa, maabot ang tiempo nga wala na kita sang daku nga balaklon,” he stressed.
Tabuada also confirmed that there’s a movement in pork prices in the province.
Live hogs are being sold at P150 to P160 per kilo here, he said.
Based on the PVO’s monitoring, prices of meat hover around P240 to P260 per kilo.
“Ang na-basehan na bal-an sang nagabaligya sang karne is ang ila nabakal sa backyard level. So, lagson man ina sang aton manug baligya sang karne ang presyo nga ina kay kon indi sila maglagas, wala sila sang baklon nga baboy,” Tabuada explained.
Despite the increase in pork prices here and the forthcoming entry of imported meat, the official is enjoining the public to still patronize local products “para indi man maapektohan ang aton mga manug baligya.”
He also encouraged farmers to engage in hog-raising because now is a “good opportunity to generate income.”
Earlier, Department of Agriculture (DA) in Region 6 director Remelyn Recoter said the pork price hike being experienced in the region won’t take long. The agency is banking on President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent approval of Executive Order (EO) 128 which reduces tariff rates for both in-quota and out-quota imports of pork.
Tariff rates for imported pork within the minimum access volume will be down to five percent for the first three months upon the EO’s effectivity and 10 percent for the fourth to 12th month from the current rate of 30 percent.
“With this, we are expecting that these pork imports would boost the supply, especially in Metro Manila. So this would imply nga ma-decrease na ang live hogs nga ipadala naton didto sa ila,” Recoter stressed.
Meantime, if a consumer finds the current pork prices in the markets costly, Recoter said they may opt to shift to other sources of protein like chicken or fish.
“So, may shifting sa food preference nga matabo. Siempre kon mahal, may ara man mas barato nga other sources,” she said./PN
