Cebu pork producers group commits full support to anti-ASF campaign

Rolando Tambago, president of the Central Visayas Pork Producers Cooperative, calls on everyone to help prevent entry of raw and processed pork with the African Swine Fever and patronize locally-produced pork. |Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippine—Expressing full support for the anti-African Swine Fever (ASF) measures, the Central Visayas Pork Producers Cooperative (CeViPPCo) is fielding teams to help monitor the Mactan Cebu International Airport, ports, wet markets and supermarkets for possible entry or presence of raw pork and processed pork products infected with the ASF.

“Our organization has also committed our full support to help in the implementation of the measures laid out by the Provincial Government through the Provincial ASF Task Force,” CeViPPCo said in a press statement.

“We shall be actively involving ourselves in the monitoring and surveillance activities, information dissemination and other activities that would help protect the Cebu province’s P10.9-billion hog industry.”

CeViPPCo President Rolando Tambago told CDN Digital in an interview on Monday, August 26, that they have teams composed of veterinary sales persons who would help monitor the possible entry points and backyard hog farmers as well as help educate hog farmers and the public about the ASF.

“We help the provincial ASF taskforce by giving information of possible contaminants if there are banned pork products present at the supermarket, intensify surveillance at the airport, and help the Coastguard monitor the entry of pork products,” he said.

The group also appealed to industry stakeholders, those in government and the private individuals to help prevent ASF from affecting the local livestock industry.

They could help by not bringing in to Cebu pork products, including canned and processed pork products coming from countries that have were placed under the ban for incidence of ASF in these areas.

“Eating pork products sourced within Cebu is safe and we could keep it that way with your help. Please do your share, be informed and know what should and should not be done in order to protect our local hog industry,” CeViPPCo statement said.

Tambago called on businesses to help protect the local producers by refraining from the use of imported pork while the possibility of ASF infection remained as this would affect not only the bigger producers but the smaller pig farmers. “We would like to appeal to the hotels and restaurants to patronize local pork.”

He disclosed that Cebu’s annual pork demand reaches 64 million kilos, with 85 percent coming from local production placed at 53 million kilos. The bulk of local production is consumed by households.

According to Tambago, some hotels and restaurants require specific pork cuts and weight, which could not be supplied by the wet markets. However, he said many bigger hog raisers already supply the pork requirements of some hotels.

Although local production could not yet meet the total demand for pork, Tambago said it had been increasing steadily, adding that it used to be 65 to 67 percent of total annual demand.

He stressed the need to protect the local hog industry otherwise Cebu would experience what had been happening to the countries where ASF had occurred.

In China, for example, they have to cull (put to death) almost half of their pigs, greatly affecting the country’s economy.

“We wouldn’t want that to happen here, so we appeal to everyone to do their part,” the CeViPPCo statement said.

Locally, pork remained the top source of protein but consumers could also look for alternative sources of protein, like chicken and beef, Tambago said.

CeViPPCo, which is composed of 150,00 families in Cebu engaged in hog raising, also thanked Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia for her quick response in making sure that Cebu’s hog industry would be protected from the ASF. | dcb