Livestock, poultry raisers may get P15 billion from tariff collection

MANILA, Philippines — Livestock, poultry and dairy  (LPD)raisers may expect at least P15 billion in funding support once the government passes a law that would earmark tariff collections for local industry development.

Agriculture officials disclosed that the possible tariff collections that would be earmarked for the livestock, poultry and dairy competitiveness enhancement (LPD fund) under the proposed livestock bill would exceed the earlier estimated P7 billion amount.

“The tariffs collected from livestock is even bigger than what we thought it was. We are looking at P15 billion for the livestock sector,” Agriculture Undersecretary Asis Perez said.

“As we look at it more granularly, it would appear it is really more than P7 billion,” Perez added.

Legislators and executive officials are looking at utilizing the tariffs collected from imported livestock, poultry and dairy commodities to bankroll programs that would help improve and develop the concerned domestic industries which have been heavily dependent on private sector investment for decades.

Under the proposed fund, the tariff collections will be used for various programs such as repopulation, herd build-up, disease control, shared service facilities like slaughter houses, food safety and animal support extension as well as animal feed production.

“We will set a clear strategic direction for the LPD industry, strengthen the organizational structure and institutional capacity of relevant agencies and ensure that adequate resources are provided to support the growth and competitiveness of the industry,” Sen. Cynthia Villar earlier said.

The Senate has already passed its version of the bill,  principally authored by Villar, last August.

The bill aims to ramp up government support for the three industries amid various production challenges from rising raw material costs to spread of animal diseases such as bird flu and African swine fever.

The bill would set up development road maps for the three sectors and create the LPD fund which will be in place for the next 10 years.  The LPD fund was patterned after the rice competitiveness enhancement fund that was created by Republic Act 11203.

However, the version of the bill passed by the Senate has stipulated that the LPD fund must not exceed P7.8 billion, which was based on earlier tariff collection estimates.

Lawmakers and industry players are hoping that the bill would be passed into law before the end of the year so that the beneficiaries, especially small-hold farm raisers would get much-needed support to thrive amid recurring animal disease outbreaks.

There are already counterpart bills filed at the House of the Representatives but are still pending at the committee level.