MANILA, Philippines — The country continued to see a decline in its meat imports as it dropped 18.9 percent in October, driven by the government’s initiatives to combat illegal trade, as well as its program to increase local production, according to an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Data from the DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that meat imports dropped to 95.98 million kilos in October.
Agriculture Undersecretary Deogracias Victor Savellano attributed the sustained downtrend in meat importation to the government’s thrust to raise local production.
The DA has also been collaborating with different government agencies in fighting illegal trade, as this is the same marching order received by DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel from President Marcos.
“Our mandate is to eliminate illegal meat importation, smuggling, hoarding, price manipulation, and anything that distorts prices in the market,” Savellano said.
“We will raise production by five times (in five years). With enough volume we hope to make food affordable for Fiipinos. We want producers, especially small scale farmers, to make money,” he said.
Based on BAI data, pork, which takes up the biggest share among meat imports, decreased by 26.35 percent to 45.604 million this year.
For beef, importation declined by 22.1 percent to 13.963 million kilos.
BAI data also showed that buffalo meat importation reached only 1.987 million kilos, 42.5 percent lower than the 4.676 million kilos in the same period a year ago.
However, chicken importation went up by 1.28 percent to 34.252 million kilos.
In an effort to boost local production, the DA has implemented a program to control infestation of African swine flu (ASF) and avian influenza (AI) while awaiting approval for vaccine commercialization.
“There are problems in the availability of vaccines for ASF and AI that are now being solved so that we can protect the population of hogs and chicken. We will also intensify research on vaccines so we can improve their availability,” Savellano said.
Meanwhile, the DA official shared that they are also raising their target on the use of artificial insemination in order to raise the genetic quality of animals.
“We are raising our target on the use of artificial insemination by 50 percent from the previous 30 percent. We are improving availability of high quality semen to farmers under our breeding program in order to raise our animal and meat production,” he said.
The DA is also embarking on long term programs to raise local animal and meat production.
In line with this, investments are being made in infrastructure development, including farm-to-market roads and transportation networks, cold storage facilities, and meat processing plants that can help reduce post harvest losses.
The DA is also exploring the development of high-value meat products that have untapped markets.
It plans to expand sources of meat importation that can offer good quality meat and competitive prices while curbing smuggling and illegal trade.