THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said they are working with the private sector and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to harmonize and improve data on hogs, particularly the number of pigs lost due to African Swine Fever (ASF) and related actions.
In a virtual news briefing on Thursday, National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) Executive Director Reildrin G. Morales disclosed that the private sector and government officials have agreed to improve data on pigs.
“At present, the hog industry stakeholders and the government, through the PSA, have agreed to fix the data to determine the real score on the remaining pigs in the country,” Morales said.
Morales said certain private sector groups estimate that the country has already lost 36 percent of its 12.7 million pig herd, which is about 4.5 million hogs, due to ASF and ASF-related actions, such as culling and reduction of stocks.
“But based on the data of the PSA, we’ve only lost more or less about 10 percent [of the total pig population],” he added.
Morales said the data harmonization is one of the tall orders of Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar to be able to efficiently advance the government’s response in controlling the spread of ASF, which has resulted in the culling of at least 400,000 pigs based on government data.
Morales, who is set to assume his post as the OIC-Director of the Bureau of Animal Industry, disclosed that Dar has given him the marching order of “elevating” the government’s responses against ASF to fast-track the local hog industry’s recovery.
Morales was part of the government’s National Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) Task Force that spearheaded the implementation of measures to eradicate FMD in the country.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier projected that the Philippines’ pork output this year may fall by 3.6 percent to 1.075 million metric tons (MMT), its lowest volume in 20 years, as ASF continues to disrupt domestic hog production,
The USDA revised downward its production forecast for the Philippines from its earlier projection of 1.35 MMT in October, dismissing an immediate rebound of domestic hog output this year.
The USDA made a lower production projection as it noted that the ASF virus, which is fatal to pigs but not harmful to humans, continues to spread in key producing regions in the country.
Historical USDA data showed that their 2021 pork output estimate for the Philippines could be its lowest volume since 2001, when production was at 1.064 MMT.
The USDA also revised downward its 2020 pork output estimate for the Philippines to 1.115 MMT from 1.275 MMT.
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