CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – To stabilize the prices of pork in Metro Manila, hog growers in the region sent the first batch of live hogs to the nation’s capital with more pigs to be transported in the coming days.
According to the Northern Mindanao Hog Raisers Association (NorMinHog), there were 580 heads of hogs that were transported to Metro Manila, where the supply of pork has dwindled in the wake of the African Swine Fever (ASF).
The Department of Agriculture-10 (DA-10) supported the shipment which departed from Cagayan de Oro on Feb. 15 and arrived at North Port in Tondo, Manila on February 17.
Leon Tan, NorMinHog president, said the hogs came from the commercial farms owned by the association’s members mostly from Misamis Oriental. NorMinHog has about 30 commercial farms.
Tan said the shipment was the group’s response to DA Sec. William Dar’s call for patriotism.
“This is the support for the Filipino people from the Northern Mindanao Hog Raisers Association… This will not be the last and hopefully, we can support more,” he said.
According to DA-10, the initiative provided transportation assistance to local hog raisers to stabilize the local retail price of pork in Metro Manila-based on the memorandum issued by Dar following the imposition of Executive Order 124 of President Rodrigo Duterte on the mandated price ceiling on select pork and chicken products in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Carlen Collado, DA-10 regional director, said, “this is the first shipment of hogs for Metro Manila after the government set the price ceiling. DA will provide P21 per kilo as transport assistance and we are hoping that this will continue after the 60-day period, and Northern Mindanao can share in sending live hogs to Metro Manila.”
During the send-off ceremony, Kristine Evangelista, DA assistant secretary for agribusiness marketing, said that although Visayas and Mindanao had supplied hogs to the capital region last year, as the issue on the price ceiling and the buying capacity of the consumers surfaced, the agriculture department stepped in again, this time through transport assistance.
“The department is shouldering the expenses of the logistics, bringing the hogs from [Cagayan de Oro] to Metro Manila so our meat dealers can get it at farm gate price,” Evangelista said.
She said Dar has been urging hog farmers all over the country to augment the pork supply in Metro Manila, supplies of which used to come from Calabarzon and Central Luzon regions, areas that were affected by the ASF.(davaotoday.com)
