Imports killing backyard piggeries, says group

ROSALES, Pangasinan—Unless government intervenes soon, the backyard hog industry in the country will continue to suffer and may eventually die, an official of a hog raisers’ group here said.

Rosendo So, president of the Northern Luzon Hog Raisers Cooperative, said this scenario is possible because of the country’s continuing meat importation which has resulted in the closure of at least 20 percent of backyard hog farms nationwide since 2009.

In 2009, So said backyard piggeries had 9.78 million head. But last year, he said, it decreased to 8.03 million head.

“And as of March 2012, the number had dropped to 7.8 million head,” he said.

He said farmers put up backyard piggeries as “piggy banks” or as a source of money in between cropping  seasons.

So blamed the closure of backyard piggeries to the increased importation of pork.

He said imported meat was initially allowed to satisfy the raw material needs of meat processors but the imports have somehow managed to reach wet markets in the country.

“The presence of cheaply priced imported meat in wet markets has greatly affected the sale of freshly slaughtered meat coming from backyard hog raisers,” So said.

“The undue competition from imported meat has eaten into the local meat market and caused a major decline in the volume of sales from backyard piggeries,” he said.

“The government must do something to arrest the continuing decline in backyard hog raising,” he said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon