UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque has vowed to stop pork importation to help local farmers and stop importers from taking over the local market.
Roque said he was against meat importation because it affects the livelihood and employment of small hog industry players.
“Tutulan po natin ang pag-angkat ng baboy dahil napakaraming hanapbuhay nakasalalay sa magbababoy dito po sa Batangas,” he told Batangueños during the campaign rally of the UniTeam in the province.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the pork supply in the country was slowly stabilizing, mainly driven by enhanced production and supply augmentation from other countries, supported by measures against African Swine Fever (ASF).
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said there was enough pork supply in the country due to measures to enhance local production and augment it through support from other countries.
The DA noted that there had been an increase in the country’s hog inventory from a year ago.
It cited figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing that its hog inventory is currently at 9.8 million heads, a bit higher than the 9.1 million heads recorded last January.
Meanwhile, Roque also batted for a stringent policy that would protect the interests of hog raisers from the onslaught of cheap pork meat from rich countries.
Roque stressed that it is not China but other rich nations exporting cheap meat that pose the biggest threat to local piggery owners, mostly backyard farmers.
“The government should continue infusing sufficient capital to farmers for hog repopulation, as well as introduce measures that would protect their domestic market share,” he said.
“These measures must counter the ability of other countries to produce and flood our markets with cheap pork meat to ensure the survival of our swine industry further,” he added.
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Roque to end pork importation
Source: Flash News Trending
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