Hog raisers to DA chief: You can’t deliver, resign

THE Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, thru former ‘Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines’ (AGAP) partylist representative, Nicanor Briones, is calling on Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary, William Dar, to finally “admit” he cannot do his job and might as well resign.

During last Friday’s (January 29, 2021) ‘Meet the Press/Report to the Nation’ media forum of the National Press Club (NPC), Briones did not hold back in criticizing the policies adopted by the DA that he described as “punishment” for farmers and hog raisers but beneficial to importers.

“He (Dar) refused to acknowledge we have a big problem; he has not the guts to tell President Duterte what needs to be done,” Briones said.

He also ‘predicted’ that Dar cannot solve the crisis now hitting the country’s hog and poultry industries this year and until next year, as he also called on President Duterte to fire Dar if the latter would not resign.

Briones said that from the very start, he has serious reservations on the ability of Dar to handle the DA portfolio.

Dar had previously served as DA secretary in 1999, during the Estrada administration. He was reappointed to the post by Pres. Duterte on August 5, 2019, when Secretary Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Piñol, was transferred to another government post.

Significantly, Dar became DA secretary at a time when the country has started to battle the scourge of the ‘African Swine Fever’ (ASF), which, Briones claimed, has now cost the country 5 million heads in Luzon alone and losses of more than P100 billion.

‘Price freeze’ won’t work

Briones also warned the government’s announcement of instituting a “price freeze” on pork and dressed chicken, as recommended by Dar, would further lead to scarcity of supply.

Under the plan proposed by Dar and seconded by the Department of Trade and Industry, (DTI) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the retail price of pork would be capped at between P270 to P300 kilo and dressed chicken at P160 per kilo.

Currently, the price of pork in selected wet markets in the NCR stood at between P360 to P400 per kilo and dressed chicken at P190 per kilo.

But Briones averred the suggestion simply would not work as already, the “farmgate” price of pork in Visayas and Mindanao—the only remaining local sources of local pork is already at between P180 to P200 per kilo.

3 ‘devils’ of the local hog and poultry industries

Briones said the “three” major ills now plaguing the hog and poultry industries are: the ASF, “which Dar completely failed to address;” unabated importation and technical smuggling.

As for the ASF, Briones said that Dar failed to compensate hog raisers, paying only those with less than 20 heads. “As for those with 20 heads and above, they are left to fend for themselves,” he lamented.

Despite billions in idle ‘ACEF’ (Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund), Briones averred Dar refused to use the money to compensate hog raisers.

He also noted that despite last year’s pandemic that drastically reduce the demand for pork and chicken, the country’s imports of these products are at an all-time high—one billion kilos of chicken alone in the last three years and an average of 300 million kilos of pork per year.

Briones also decried the unabated ‘technical smuggling’ of pork and poultry products to evade the 40 percent tariff imposed by the government.

He said they have reason to believe that of the country’s chicken imports, some 70 percent—700 million kilos—were declared as ‘mechanically deboned chicken’ at 5 percent tariff.

Imports to ‘kill’ hog industry faster than ASF—Marcos

Sen. Imee Marcos, chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, seconded the concern of hog raisers on the recourse of the government to solve the problem of domestic pork supply thru more importations.

“The slaughter of our local hog raisers will begin if the DA executes its plan to raise the minimum access volume (MAV) of pork imports by as much as three times the present 54,000 metric tons,” Marcos said.

The proposed new MAV, Briones said, is 162 million kilos.

“Many local hog raisers have already shut down their business. Importation amid the Covid-19 pandemic means more local jobs will be lost and surrendering the country’s food security to foreigners,” Marcos said.

Besides arresting hoarders and profiteers, Marcos said the government can also bring down meat prices by subsidizing the cost of transporting pork products to Luzon, which imports about 80 percent of its supply from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Marcos pointed out that the DA got the single biggest item for emergency and stimulus funding under ‘Bayanihan 2,’ amounting to P24 billion.

Marcos had already filed Senate Resolution 619, calling the government’s consumer price arbiters to an inquiry this Monday, February 1, 2021.

“DA’s spending must be investigated, as well as the failure of the DTI to implement its suggested retail prices,” Marcos said.