Senator Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos said the government must help local livestock raisers become more price-competitive to survive the surge of imports that make up more than half of the poultry and pork products in the market.
“Stop the importation madness. Filipinos first!” Ms. Marcos stressed.
The neophyte senator, who chairs the Senate committee on economic
affairs, cited the August inventory of the National Meat Inspection Service
(NMIS) that showed imports making up 81% of the 43,124 kilos of frozen pork
surveyed in the market.
The NMIS inventory also showed that imported dressed chicken made
up 58% of the total 60,810 kilos surveyed.
Ms. Marcos said the high volume of imported poultry products and
their lower market prices were making the situation worse for local raisers who
are already hurting from the sudden slash in market demand due to the Covid-19
pandemic.
Domestic demand for local pork and chicken has dwindled among
food companies, hotels and restaurants that have scaled down operations or
totally shut down amid extended community quarantines.
Recently, wet market prices for imported pork cost PHP120 to PHP175
per kilo, compared to local pork being sold at PHP230 to PHP260.
Imported chicken ranged from PHP100 to PHP110 per kilo in the
same period, cheaper than the PHP125 to PHP130 price range for local chicken.
One solution to make local poultry products more competitive is
for the Department of Agriculture to provide poultry raisers with the
technology for processing mechanically deboned chicken meat—an imported product
hardly produced locally due to the lack of facilities, Ms. Marcos noted.
She also urged the government to explore market expansion of
poultry exports to Japan, South Korea, and other countries where local
production costs are high.
On the other hand, the importation of pork products should also
be closely watched, Ms. Marcos said, to prevent the entry of communicable
animal diseases like Asian swine fever that could easily spread and damage the
local pork industry.
“The recent scare over contaminated pork from Germany and Brazil
calls for stricter requirements in issuing sanitary and phytosanitary
clearances,” Ms. Marcos pointed out.
The government can also make local livestock raisers more
competitive by offering incentives to big food companies that will support
fragmented farms and assist in the production chain, from livestock raising all
the way to distribution and sales, she added.
The Bureau of Customs should also step up its campaign to curb
the smuggling of mis-declared or undervalued food products.
“While cheaper imports may be considered a boon to the public,
the country’s food security must not depend on them. The government must
support local pork and poultry raisers, if they are to survive and still be
around when any hitch occurs in the global food supply chain,” the senator said.
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