New export potential for Philippine pork
Agribusiness in the Philippines is set to benefit from the construction of high-grade slaughterhouses in Luzon, with similar facilities slated for the Visayas and Mindanao next year.
Funded by the Department of Agriculture, the addition of these slaughterhouses will increase the export potential of pork producers while upgrading quality standards and operational procedures to ensure requirements are met for distributing to international markets.
“We have allotted some P180 million [$4.3 million] for the construction of two triple-A slaughterhouses this year,” undersecretary Antonio Fleta of the department told local media.
“What we want is to identify strategic areas [first],” he added.
However, the creation of a qualified conduit to the export market comes at a bumpy time for hog raisers, who struggle with being undercut by pork smugglers.
It is estimated that “50 per cent of all backyard hog raisers will stop their business” if government bodies do not clamp down on the illegal importation of pork, said Agriculture Sector Alliance of the Philippines party-list representative Nicanor Briones in an interview in April, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“Right now, around 20 per cent [of pig producers] have already quit,” Briones said.
Venal customs officials and employees must also be held accountable if the industry is to survive, a customs commissioner recognised.
The smuggling debacle recently boiled over into protests last May, where representatives of backyard pig producers held “pig holidays”, effectively stopping production of 70 per cent of the total sector.
In the same month, however, investors continued to set up agribusiness ventures despite the unsavory political climate. Thai-owned Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines, for example, was approved by the Philippine Board of Investment to raise pig parent stocks and slaughter hogs in the country.
With the soon-to-be established slaughterhouses in Luzon, industry representatives are hoping that a crack down on smuggling will further add to the attractiveness of the industry.
Agribusiness in the Philippines is set to benefit from the construction of high-grade slaughterhouses in Luzon, with similar facilities slated for the Visayas and Mindanao next year. Funded by the Department of Agriculture, the addition of these slaughterhouses will increase the export potential of pork producers while upgrading quality standards and operational procedures to ensure requirements are met for distributing to international markets. “We have allotted some P180 million [$4.3 million] for the construction of two triple-A slaughterhouses this year,” undersecretary Antonio Fleta of the department told local media. “What we want is to identify strategic areas [first]," he added....
Agribusiness in the Philippines is set to benefit from the construction of high-grade slaughterhouses in Luzon, with similar facilities slated for the Visayas and Mindanao next year.
Funded by the Department of Agriculture, the addition of these slaughterhouses will increase the export potential of pork producers while upgrading quality standards and operational procedures to ensure requirements are met for distributing to international markets.
“We have allotted some P180 million [$4.3 million] for the construction of two triple-A slaughterhouses this year,” undersecretary Antonio Fleta of the department told local media.
“What we want is to identify strategic areas [first],” he added.
However, the creation of a qualified conduit to the export market comes at a bumpy time for hog raisers, who struggle with being undercut by pork smugglers.
It is estimated that “50 per cent of all backyard hog raisers will stop their business” if government bodies do not clamp down on the illegal importation of pork, said Agriculture Sector Alliance of the Philippines party-list representative Nicanor Briones in an interview in April, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“Right now, around 20 per cent [of pig producers] have already quit,” Briones said.
Venal customs officials and employees must also be held accountable if the industry is to survive, a customs commissioner recognised.
The smuggling debacle recently boiled over into protests last May, where representatives of backyard pig producers held “pig holidays”, effectively stopping production of 70 per cent of the total sector.
In the same month, however, investors continued to set up agribusiness ventures despite the unsavory political climate. Thai-owned Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines, for example, was approved by the Philippine Board of Investment to raise pig parent stocks and slaughter hogs in the country.
With the soon-to-be established slaughterhouses in Luzon, industry representatives are hoping that a crack down on smuggling will further add to the attractiveness of the industry.
