MANILA - Hograisers will receive P10,000 indemnification per head of culled pork due to African swine fever under the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.

Pork producers will receive "100 percent" indemnification and not just P5,000 as was initially allocated by the DA, said Secretary William Dar.

The DA has yet to give indemnification worth P1.5 billion to ASF-hit hograisers under the initial funds allocated, he said.

"The backyard hograiser is free from paying premiums. However, they have to list themselves with the famers registry or the RBCSA (Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture)," he told ANC's Headstart.

"Minabuti natin sila (PCIC) ang totoka dito sa pagbibigay ng indemnification...para ang backyard hograisers mababayaran na ng 100 percent. Dati P5,000 lang kada ulo, this time around, they will be paid P10,000."

(We have tasked the PCIC to focus on giving indemnification...so hograisers can be paid in full. Before, it was only P5,000 per head, this time around, they will be paid P10,000.)

The DA will work with the local government in its information campaign on the registry of hograisers, Dar said.

Commercial hograisers need to pay a premium of around P225 per head and the DA will subsidize 22 percent of it, he added.

"'Pag may apektado at nakainsure sila, P10,000 for fatteners kada ulo, yung breeders P14,500, yung parental stocks nila ay P34,000 per head so mas attractive po itong insurance arrangement this time around," he said.

(If they're affected and they're insured, they will receive P10,000 per head for fatteners, P14,500 for breeders, and P34,000 for parental stocks. So the insurance arrangement is more attractive this time around.)

The Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (ProPork), however, said the PCIC has a "small fund" of P3 billion.

• Pork producers seek indemnification for ASF-stricken hogs

"Napakaraming nagiinsure d'yan so di 'yun nakakasapat," said Nicanor Briones, ProPork vice president for Luzon.

(There are many insurers there so it's not enough.)

The group also noted that the amendment to Executive Order 128, which adjusts tariff rates minimum access volume (MAV) of pork imports has yet to be implemented under President Rodrigo Duterte's declaration of state of calamity due to ASF.

• Compromise reached on pork import tariffs, volume: DA

The amendment "will come sooner or later because that has yet to be issued," Dar said.

"We will also adjust accordingly based on the tariffs," he said

The agency is eyeing 3 drugs in addressing ASF and a vaccine from the United States, according to Dar.

It has also proposed to build agriculture commodity inspection facilities in international ports nationwide for stricter border control, Dar said.

"Looking back we need to further improve yung border inspection, totoo naman, wala tayong facility dun mismo pagpasok sa pier (our border inspection, it's true we don't have a facility when pork enters our pier)," he said.

It has also proposed to build more RT-PCR laboratories in provinces and the construction of a Center for transboundary animal diseases research institute which is funded under Bayanihan 2, he added.

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