As the price cap on pork products goes on its second week, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Monday asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to focus its initiatives to overcome the effects of the African swine flu (ASF) on backyard hog-raisers.

“We welcome DA’s P500 million worth of interest-free loans payable in three to five years, initially set aside by its Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC) for backyard hog-raisers,” Pangilinan said. 

He was the former Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization during the Nonoy Aquino presidency.

“But we also call for three things. Una, maging mas aggressive at proactive sa pag-rollout ng availment ng pautang na ito  Madalas kasi hindi alam ng maliit na magbababoy na merong mga ganitong magaan na pautang ((FIrst, be aggressive and pro-active in rolling out the availment of the loan.  Often, small hog raisers do not know of this kind of loan),” he said.

Secondly, Pangilinan asked that the lending process be made easier so that more small-scale hog-raisers could avail themselves of the credit facility.

Thirdly, with P27 billion allocated for commercial hog-raisers, Pangilinan suggested a much bigger credit allocation for backyard hog-raisers.

“Kung ikukumpara sa nakalaang pautang para sa mga commercial hog-raisers, wala pang two percent ang bahagi ng para sa mga maliliit na magbababoy (Compared to loans to commercial hog raisers, this kind of loan carries less than two percent in interest),” he said.

Citing the Bureau of Animal Industry’s (BAI’s) swine inventory as of January 2018, Pangilinan said this credit allocation is disproportionate to the almost two heads produced by backyard hog-raisers for every head produced by commercial hog-raisers.

Pangilinan also noted that the P500-million credit facility for backyard hog-raisers is 60 percent less than the P800 million allocated for transportation assistance for both hog growers and traders who will deliver and sell their pork products to markets in Metro Manila.

In the launch of its twin programs of national hog repopulation and “Bantay sa ASF sa Barangay” over the weekend, DA announced that Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines are also allocating P15 billion and P12 billion, respectively, for lending to commercial hog-raisers. DA also said its Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) is providing hog-raisers insurance coverage for ASF-culled hogs at P10,000 each. The Philippine swine industry, which is worth about P200 billion a year, has been hit by the African swine flu (ASF) since 2019.