CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The price of pork in Northern Mindanao has increased as other areas in the country has turned to the region for their meat supply in the wake of the African Swine Fever (ASF) threat, the Department of Agriculture-10 (DA-10) said Friday (Jan. 22).
DA-10 has noted that swine traders from Luzon, Visayas and other regions in Mindanao are offering competitive prices to Northern Mindanao’s hog raisers, prompting local pork producers to raise their prices.
But Carlota Madriaga, DA-10 regional technical director for operations, said the increase is considered “artificial” and assured that although suppliers from elsewhere in the country buy pork from hog farmers in the region, there is sufficient supply for the consumers in Northern Mindanao.
“Based on the monitoring report and the reports from the local government units, and from our program directory, Northern Mindanao should not be worried. As of end of December, we have enough supply of pork,” Madriaga said.
With about 600 percent pork sufficiency in the region, agriculture secretary William Dar has urged the region to provide more supply in Metro Manila and other areas in Luzon and Visayas to stabilize its price.
As of Jan. 21, a kilo of pork should meat and pork belly are being sold at an average of P270 to P300, while live hog is priced at P170 per kilo from commercial hog growers and P135 from backyard farms.
Madriaga said the Northern Mindanao Hog Raisers has told the agriculture department’s regional office that they will find ways to regulate the price of pork, especially for the region’s consumers.
Meanwhile, the DA-10 has offered insurance for hog raisers affected by the ASF through the Phil. Crop Insurance Corp.
Paying only P225 per head, a farmer could already claim P10,000 for their ASF-stricken swine.
For backyard hog raisers, DA-10 offers free insurance as long as the farmer is registered with the premium registry for basic sector for agriculture.
Aside from the insurance, DA-10 also provides indemnification cash assistance where affected growers could received P5,000 per culled animal.
In containing the spread of animal diseases, Madriaga said DA-10 has a laboratory to analyze samples from affected livestock as she urged hog raisers and other concerned stakeholders to coordinate with their respective provincial veterinary offices if there are samples that need to be analyzed.
