Senator Cynthia Villar is confident that local hog producers’ link and network with institutional markets such as restaurants and hotels will lessen their dependence on imported pork.
While recognizing the Filipinos’ love for pork, Villar said it is imperative for domestic hog producers to provide consumers with good quality pork.
“The love for pork of our kababayans will remain so we need to find a good source of juicy, tender pork with the ideal meat-to-fat ratio at affordable price,” Villar said in her speech at the National Federation of Hog Farmers National Pig Day Celebration in Quezon City from March 1 up to 5.
The event was believed to have set a Guinness Record for the most number of pork dishes on display and to be served.
Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, related that Filipinos consumed 15 kilos of pork, 11.6 kgs. of chicken and three kgs. of beef a year.
“We Pinoys love to eat meat particularly pork meat. We offer a variety of pork dishes. Some of the favorite pork dishes are – lechon, barbecue, adobo, pochero, sinigang na baboy, tokwa at baboy, dinuguan, binagoongan, kadios, baboy at langka or KBL, pork sisig, bagnet, pork bistek and crispy pata, among others,” Villar said.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, as of September 2023, the top five regions with the highest volume of hog production at live weight were Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Northern Mindanao, Central Visayas, Davao Region and Zamboanga Peninsula.
“And about 67.5 percent of the country’s swine population came from small hold farms, while the remaining 29.2 percent and 3.3 percent were from commercial and semi-commercial farms, respectively,” Villar said.
She noted, however, that the country was not spared the challenges facing the hog industry , such as the African Swine Flu (ASF).
The hog sector has registered P200 billion in losses on the ASF since 2019.
The Bureau of Animal Industry in November 2023 said only 11 provinces out of the 82 remain ASF-free. They were Batanes, Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Bohol, Siquijor, Biliran, Bukidnon, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
While no ASF vaccine has been approved, Villar said “we can only rely on our good animal husbandry practices in preventing disease and disease-causing agents to spread for our hog farmers to earn, attain their maximum farm yield, protect the consumer food supply by making available clean and safe hogs for slaughter.
As this developed, she renewed her call to stop agricultural smuggling to protect our local hog producers. She is asking both the house of Congress to finish the bicameral conference on Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Bill.
She also urged Congress has to pass the Livestock Poultry and Dairy Bill and the Corn Bill soonest to finance the strengthening of the industries from tariffs collected on imported animal products and feeds.