PH halal industry targeting 10% export growth

MANILA  -The Philippines’ halal industry is looking to grow its exports by a tenth, with the local sector ramping up production as it move towards greater presence and access to local and foreign markets.

Ammar Yassir Baraguir, program head of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Halal Project Management Office, said they were ramping up production under the government agency’s 10-year halal roadmap of 2017-2027.

“As far as production is concerned, we have established several halal multiplier farms, (involving the) procurement of P5 million worth of animals for distribution in areas covered by the halal multiplier farms (and) technical assistance to private farms who seek to be halal certified,” he said during a webinar organized by the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport).

Under the second phase of the roadmap, which is the halal food production phase, stakeholders are targeting to increase the yield of halal crops, animal and milk, as well as agri-fishery outputs.

The DA official also said that guidelines have already been developed for DA-assisted halal farms.

“These are microfarms, they are not capable of having the financial requirement to be certified as halal. So, what we do is we provide technical assistance and other assistance for them to be recognized as halal even before they are fully certified,” he said.

Further, Baraguir said they are also preparing to draft a catalog of DA-assisted halal products.

“We are aiming to craft future products that are not fully halal certified. But, if based on the assessment of the program, most likely halal-compliant. In such a way that we can give producers market opportunities,” he added

The DA official said that they were also working in coordination with the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BFAR) to create additional national standards for halal products.

To date, according to Baraguir, there are already six Philippine national standards for halal, including those for halal agriculture and fisheries products, halal slaughtering practices for ruminants, halal slaughtering for poultry, halal feeds, code on halal goat production, and production of halal raw milk-code of practice.

Earlier, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority said the global halal industry was valued at $3.2 billion.

However, the Department of Trade and Industry said back in 2018 that the Philippines accounted for about 5 percent of the global halal trade.