Appeal for Malacañang help
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – With the population of their farms building up and filled with overgrown stock, swine producers said they are ready to supply Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon of their pork meat requirement.
South Cotabato Swine Producers Association president Ramil Lim said they have and inventory of at least 45,000 sows despite de-populating their farms due the Asian Swine Fever that hit the country last year.
But with the ongoing COVID-19 quarantine measures, they are building up stocks and are losing heavily due to increasing production costs and drastic reduction in sales.
Lim said that they are producing over 50,000 heads of 100-kilo hog every month but only 10 percent of them are sold for the local markets in the region (Region 12 or Soccsksargen area).
“The rest of our production, about 60 percent, are shipped to the Visayas, particularly in Cebu and Leyte,” Lim revealed. But he added that they also be allowed to have convoys for these live shipment.
“A live cargo ship takes at least 3 days to reach Manila. Our convoys are necessary to feed and keep our livestock washed and watered,” Lim explained of the convoy of workers.
Socospa members said they could immediately load live hogs into cargo ships bound for Metro Manila anytime.
“We are aware that Metro Manila market goers prefer newly slaughtered pork meat. We can supply that need,” Lim added.
He also revealed that they still have more than 2,000 pig carcass or at least 160 metric tons stored in various storage facilities in the city.
Lim added that they resorted into slaughtering their maturing stocks as production costs kept growing.
“But with cold storages in the city now fully booked, we are at a loss where to dispose our livestock produce,” he rued.
Socospa has been repeatedly asking for help and intervention from the government.
Socospa is the largest producer of live hogs in Mindanao with four major farms having at least 15,000 sow levels.
The biggest is Biotech Farms, owned by KCC mall chain, which reportedly has a sow population of 6,000 heads.
Each sow is capable of selling 1.2 pigs every month.
A single hog reaches the market-size of 100-kilo weight in 5 months.
With local government units imposing both ASF and COVID quarantine measures, they have not been able to transport their livestock products since early this year despite repeated appeal to the Department of Agriculture.
But last week, Socospa producers gambled and were able to transport six (6) truckloads of live hogs to Leyte but not after chartering a ferry for P150,000 each truck.
“We appeal to the national government to advice LGUs that our livestock product be allowed unhampered travel,” Lim said.
Socospa includes hog growers in General Santos and South Cotabato
Among the biggest are Biotech Farms, Q Pigs, Bibiana Farms and ECA Farms. The four has a combined sow population of at least 15,000.
That 30 percent of the estimated 50,000 total sows of Socospa members had in September last year.
For the longest time, Mindanao livestock industry have remained disease-free. Early this year, however, the first case of Asian Swine Fever was reported in the Davao Occidental, putting the entire southern and eastern Mindanao hog production in quarantine.
But Region 12 has since been declared ASF-free.
General Santos City and South Cotabato used to supply 20 percent of the livestock requirements of Metro Manila in the 1970s up to early 1980s until tuna overtook it as the main economic in General Santos City.
