Livestock sector breathes new life

Down in the dumps during the 1997 Asian economic meltdown, outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), mad cow scare in Europe and the standoff between Australia and the Philippines over its fruit exports resulting in the latter's witholding of cattle imports from the former, the country's livestock sector is flexing its muscle as it gains vigorous recovery. with expanded production from efficient control of animal diseases and more imports.

The battle against FMD and animal diseases is a major program of Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor designed to give impetus to the "Go Modern Agriculture" policy of President Arroyo. The department's work in this area is rewarded with a certification from the Office Internationale des Epizooties (OIE) that Masbate, Palawan, Visayas and Mindanao are FMD-free zones.

Importation of live animals reached a peak of 240,000 heads before 1997 and declined abruptly to 70,000 to 80,000 heads in the years following that. In 2001, the Philippines imported a total of 104,000 heads of cattle and early trends indicate that this same import level will be achieved throughout 2002, according to Dr. Jose Molina, director of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

Imports of manufacturing grade meat have been steadily improving despite strong and ferocious lobbying against such meat imports by the local hog raisers. The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. is now organizing a trade mission to Latin America to find more sources for its manufacturing grade meat requirements.

At the recent livestock forum of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists hosted by Tryco Pharmaceutical Corp. and Xylena Farms Inc. at the Aresi Restaurant in Quezon City, Molina said the bureau has already accredited new sources of live animals and meat products such as Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in the Pacific Islands and Brazil in Latin America.

The Philippines used to source most of its live animal and meat imports from Australia and Europe before the 1998 outbreak of mad cow disease. Other participants in the forum were Dr. Carol Ann Benigno, head of the FMD Task Force, Dr. Ronel Abila, head of the animal health service of BAI and Dr. Ernesto Agor, technical director of Tryco.

PAMPI Executive Director Francisco Buencamino also said the 32-member meat processing group is now organizing a trade fair for the Latin Americas to ensure an expanded supply source of manufacturing grade meat for PAMPI members. He invited the BAI to join the trade fair set for sometime in September or October so that BAI can conduct inspections of the plant and farms in these sources.

Buencamino said that with the expanded sources of raw materials and live animals, the country would now be able to increase its domestic processing capacities to meet both its local requirement and future shipments of processed and canned meat products to Filipino communities everywhere.

"Right now, with very limited sources like Australia, any strain in our trade relations will definitely impact on our raw materials supply for processing plants," he said, citing the recent experience of meat processors during the trade tiff over tropical fruits between Australia and the Philippines during the time of then DA Secretary – Senator Edgardo Angara

Besides, he said, beef from Latin American countries like Brazil costs 20 percent less than those coming from Australia.

Meat Safety

Dr. Efren Nuestro, executive director of the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) which is tasked with ensuring meat safety at the post- and ante- mortem stages, debunked reports that contaminated Indian meat is being sold in the wet markets locally.

In the first place, he said, NMIC only accredits the meat importers and meat processors that will be allowed to import (carabeef) for their processing requirements. "We make sure that these imports do not find their way to the wet markets as we mete out penalties for such violations, if any," Nuestro said.

Nuestro said the NMIC is also beefing up its capabilities to look into the operations of ice plant and cold storage facilities in the country (principally those at the Food Terminal Inc. at Taguig and other facilities in Pasig City) to ensure that storage in these areas are clean and hygienic and safe from contamination.

NMIC is, also, committed to help protect areas that have been declared free from the dreaded FMD.

Expansion

Tryco chief executive officer Wilfredo Rivera Sr. said his company, the only manufacturer of vaccines and veterinary biologicals in the country, is expanding into the production of fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and rodenticides in tandem with three or four Indian machinery companies.

The Indians will be providing the machinery; Tryco will provide the building to house these manufacturing equipment and importation of raw materials. Tryco will pay the Indians only after four successive months of successful local sales, he said.

Tryco has been successful in coming up with vaccines, antibiotics and treatments against the most dreaded animal diseases such as the hog cholera (for pigs), Newcastle disease (for poultry) and foot and mouth disease (for cloven animals). These are also the top three diseases in the watch list of the Paris-based OIE.

Rivera said that his company has always and will continue to serve the requirements of small backyard raisers (or those with eight to 10 heads of farm animals) by making smaller doses of medicines.

For his part, Molina said with the declaration of Visayas, Mindanao, Palawan and Masbate as FMD-free regions BAI is now working double time to ensure that Luzon will soon be declared FMD-free by the OIE.

Another major concern of the bureau is the hog cholera, a major scourge among piggery farms in the country, for which a summit is being called by BAI on Oct.3-4 at the Bureau of Soils and Water Management. Similarly, a rabies control program is being launched in Davao City this month, Molina said.

Price Triggers

To ensure a balance between local production and stable supply of food products (including import considerations), the BAI is now working out price triggers for certain meat products, consistent with the provisions of the World Trade Organization.

For one, the BAI has determined the trigger price for poultry at P90 (taking into consideration local production and selling costs and the cost of a competing product from abroad). This same price trigger will be applied before WTO prior to its adoption in the country. Similar trigger prices will also be determined – and applied with WTO subsequently – for other meat and farm products, Molina said.

Molina explained that while the price trigger mechanisms can not automatically be implemented by a country and requires approval of WTO, "still we are preparing all these strategies so that when import surges occur we are able to attack them from either price or volume triggers as provided by WTO."