MANILA, Philippines — Local livestock producers in the country have called on President Benigno S. Aquino III to thresh out the problems affecting the livestock industry.
“The government’s policy of allowing massive importation of pork and meat, despite adequacy of supply must be stopped because it has actually deprived the government billions of pesos in customs and tariff duties because they pay only five percent tariff instead of 35 percent,” livestock producers said in a recent press conference.
They said that the policy of the Aquino administration is not only hurting the livestock industry, but may also pave the way for its eventual collapse because it effectively allows smuggling and importation of pork and chicken.
“Our message is not to penalize consumers but to point out that backyard raisers are going bankrupt due to unabated smuggling,” said Rosendo So, convenor of the Swine Development Council.
Among the proposals of the council is to give the Department of Agriculture (DA) a hand in regulating the importation of meat by requiring the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to automatically forward importers’ Inward Foreign Manifest (IFM) to allow the DA to inspect the importations against underdeclaration and misdeclarations by unscrupulous traders.
Hog raisers also urged that imported products first pass through the DA quarantine before the Bureau of Customs final evaluation.
Rep. Nicanor M. Briones, Agap Partly-list, Edwin G. Chen, president Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (Propork), Gregorio A. San Diego Jr., president, United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA), and Daniel P. Javellana Jr., chairman of National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. (NFHFI) aired the same sentiments as So.
The industry stakeholders said a five-day pork holiday has become necessary in the wake of government’s failure to address their appeal.
They also said that they welcome the decision of Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to relieve two officials, Efren Nuestro and Jane Bacayo as heads of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), respectively.
“This is a victory on our part, even as much still needs to be done,” said Chen.
In the same press conference, hog raisers lauded Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala’s decision to put on hold the implementation of Administrative Orders 5 and 6.
The two issuances provides for rules on the hygienic handling of newly-slaughtered meat and chilled, frozen and thawed meat in the markets.
“We call on the Aquino government to protect the hog and poultry industries by not only going after “unscrupulous importers” engaged in massive “technical smuggling,” but also by scrapping Administrative Orders No. 5 and 6, which deal on the hygienic handling of newly-slaughtered meat and handling of chilled, frozen and thawed meat in the markets,” the stakeholders said, in a statement.
They said that the two issuances ease out the local growers because they were adopted in consultation with importers of meat, but not with local hog raisers.
article source: mb.com.ph