Import woes: PH hog, poultry growers hurting

The Department of Agriculture (DA) was asked to stop the free flow of imported pork and chicken as it was now hurting local producers, particularly backyard raisers who have been selling their products at cost or at a loss.

“There seems to be famine in the Philippines if you look at the volume of imports,” said Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, who is running for senator.

“There’s no starvation that would need resorting to panic buying and importing lots and lots of chicken and pork,” she said in a statement.

Suspend imports

“We should suspend importation to give our local and backyard raisers breathing space to recover their losses,” Marcos added.

“There’s already an oversupply of pork and chicken,” she said.

According to Rosendo So, chair of the agricultural group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag), the government must put in place safeguards to ensure that the local meat industry does not suffer from heavy importation.

Supporting Marcos’ call to suspend meat and vegetable importation, So said in 2016, chicken importation stood at 232 million kilograms.

The number went up to 244 million kg in 2017 and rose by almost 30 percent to 310 million kg last year.