Local hog raisers seek gov’t logistics support

Local hog raisers, still grappling with challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, are seeking government help in logistics to make it easier for them to sell their products.

The sector said it had been difficult for them to move about half of their produce across the country because of transportation problems.

And this was the situation even before several strong typhoons struck the Philippines.

“The local hog industry has been hit by a double whammy—we had to deal with the African swine fever outbreak and also COVID-19. Right now, the biggest challenge we are facing is on the transportation side, particularly on delivering our products from Visayas and Mindanao to Luzon,” Chester Warren Tan, president of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc., said in a virtual briefing held on Monday.

Tan said local hog raisers currently rely on private vessels to transport livestock and other agriculture products coming from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Tan expressed hope the next government would be able to help local hog raisers by providing access to delivery vehicles and putting up cold and dry storage facilities.

“We hope the new government will study the procurement of transport vehicles such as vessels and trucks because for the past years, for the past decades, the private sector is handling it. We should replicate what other countries are doing such as providing subsidies, they have their own government-owned vehicles, even vessels,” he added.

Meanwhile, Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., president of Frabelle Group, said 2021 has not been a good year for the fisheries sector because of difficult weather conditions that pulled down output. INQ