03, The More The Merrier – PH Needs More Hogs In Manila, Less Critics!

“Pinoys absolutely love pork. Randomly enter a restaurant and there’s a fat chance you’ll sniff the rousing aroma of sizzling sisig, grilled liempo or if your host is big-time, lechon – a whole roasted pig!”

That’s what Gregg Yan says[1] (03 January 2020, Thepigsite.com). Count me in! I just love to bite into the crispy skin of a lechon and never ever think of hypertension – I’m just lean & mean.
(lower “Backyard Pig Farming” image[2] from PCARRD.dost.gov.ph)

There is some unsolicited advice about what to do with the current problematic PH supply of pork because of the African Swine Fever (ASF), comment/advice slyly directed at Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. Thank you, but you are assuming Mr Dar has no“Whole-Hog Plan” if I may call it that. You don’t know Mr Dar has been a science manager for 33 years, up to and including his incredible stint as the longest-running Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, for 3 terms or 15 years. (Based in Los Baños, IRRI is a sister agency of ICRISAT.)

“At the Lucena Port receiving 1,350 hogs in 13 trucks from GenSan for Metro Manila!” That is Mr Dar’s Facebook post Tuesday, 16 February 2021. My remark: “13 is a lucky number!” I’m trying to give some encouragement to those people at the port of Lucena City, as if they needed it. Mr Dar and team just came from Mindanao looking for as many hogs as Metro Manilans wished to hug.

I said “team” – from January 2000 to December 2014, Mr Dar assigned himself the task of being Team Captain to ICRISAT’s international employees, and brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among the 15 international aggie research centers of CGIAR, including world-famous IRRI.

If the Philippines is now Asian last in pork supply because of the ASF, Mr Dar does not need advice; rather, he needs support!

If you have an axe to grind, you will ignore Mr Dar’s long international exposure at science-and-people management and give your advice as if he does not know what he should be doing!

You have been paying attention to the digital media, or are just continuing to pursue your hidden agenda. In the news release “DA-PCIC Urges Raisers To Insure Hogs So They Can Bounce Back” –

Agriculture Secretary William Dar is urging backyard and commercial hog raisers to secure insurance packages so they can recover part of their investments, in case their farms are affected by the (ASF).

Mr Dar wants more hog raisers to raise more hogs and at the same time solicit the proper insurance package from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation. He says:

As the Department of Agriculture (DA) intensifies efforts to encourage hog raisers to get back to business and, ultimately, help pork production rebound, availing of an insurance coverage is a prudent safety net for existing raisers and for those in ASF-free areas who will venture into this business.

The PH Secretary of Agriculture means business!@517

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[1]https://www.thepigsite.com/articles/pork-remains-the-favourite-in-the-philippines

[2]http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/portal/index.php/quick-information-dispatch/3338-video-on-proper-pig-management-to-encourage-backyard-pig-farming-among-the-youth