FILIPINO hog raisers will appeal to President Duterte to impose a two-month moratorium on the importation of meat and meat products from “high-risk” countries, or those near countries struck by African swine fever (ASF), to protect the local industry from the fatal pig disease.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the two-month suspension would give the government sufficient time to improve its quarantine measures, which he admitted has lapses in averting the possible entry of ASF virus to the country.
Filipino hog raisers, through the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) Committee on Committee on Poultry, Livestock and Feed Crops (PCAF-CPLFC), will sign a resolution formalizing the appeal which Piñol will personally give to Duterte.
“This will be an appeal to the President through the secretary that there would be a temporary suspension of importation to give us time, as according to the secretary, to strengthen our borders in order to prevent the entry of ASF,” PCAF-CPLFC Chairman Rufina S. Salas said in a news briefing on Monday.
The suspension of importation from high-risk countries would cover raw meat products and processed meat products such as canned goods, hot dogs, hams, among others.
“I will personally hand-carry that letter to be signed by all the stakeholders, represented nationwide, that appeals to the government to give more attention to the ASF problem,” Piñol said.
“And if possible for the President to order more stringent action to protect our local hog raisers,” he added.
Piñol defines high-risk countries as those states “contiguous to ASF-affected areas which may have the disease already, but is not just being monitored.” Piñol added that the DA will identify the list of the countries later on.
However, industry sources noted that under international standards, high-risk areas are only those within a 7-kilometer radius of the ground zero of the disease outbreak.
‘Not severing ties’
Piñol said the proposal to suspend importation from high-risk countries is meant mainly to protect the P200-billion local hog industry from ASF and does not mean “severing ties” with the country’s trade partners.
“We want to assure our trading partners that this action is actually not aimed at severing our trade relations with them but protecting our local hog industry,” he said.
“And as soon as we are able to establish an impenetrable quarantine wall, then everything will be okay,” he added.
Piñol also dismissed possible violations of trade agreements, such as under the World Trade Organization, if the proposed moratorium pushes through.
Piñol said he is more concerned over the livelihood of thousands of hog raisers that could be destroyed by ASF rather than looking at possible violations.
“In fact I am not just concerned. I am scared. The moment that ASF enters this country, thousands of Filipino families will suffer and even our consumers [will as well],” he said.
“People may look at it as a violation, but I will always look at it as an effort to protect [the industry],” he added.
Sufficient supply
Hog raisers dismissed the possibility of supply disruption once importation is affected by their proposal since the country has a pork buffer stock sufficient for almost five months.
This stockpile volume, the hog raisers noted, was more than enough to cover the two-month moratorium on imports that they are seeking.
Furthermore, Piñol asked meat importers to heed the appeal of the local hog raisers and voluntarily stop sourcing their imports from high-risk countries.
Piñol said he will meet with local importers on Tuesday to appeal to them to support the DA’s campaign against ASF and just purchase their meat requirements locally.
“We are hoping that the importers, themselves, volunteer to refrain from importing from high-risk countries. By then we do not have to declare suspension or observing moratorium,” he said.
Piñol added that the DA will meet with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials on Tuesday to request for a recall of all processed meat products manufactured beyond August 2018 that are being sold in local supermarkets today.
The agriculture chief said they have received reports that the FDA, which oversees trade of processed meat products, continued to issue transport permits despite the DA ban on the importation and shipment of these goods from ASF-affected countries.
Image credits: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg