Philippines to import Indian Buffaloes

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http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_nov1_2007

Indian buffaloes set to invade RP shores

 

**If Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap will have his way, the Philippine

countryside will soon be teeming with imported buffaloes from India to

complement the dwindling local carabao population, currently estimated at

about three million. Yap has expressed his preference to import buffalo and

genetic material from India to strengthen the local animal breed for meat

and dairy purposes during a visit to the Asian country early last month.

 

Yap, who accompanied President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to India in October,

appears to be serious in increasing local milk and carabeef production to

bring down dairy and meat prices in the Philippines. Nobody will doubt Yap's

noble intentions but local livestock producers predictably will again oppose

his plan by raising the FMD (foot and mouth disease) scare. Livestock

raisers have successfully called for regulated carabeef imports, claiming

that Indian buffaloes could be infected with FMD and threaten local animals.

They have blamed the FMD epidemic in 1994 on carabeef importation.

 

Buffalo imports are not actually new in the Philippines. The country in 1905

imported more than 5,000 heads of carabaos from China. More than half,

unfortunately, succumbed to pests, FMD and other causes. In 1918, the

Philippines again imported 67 heads of Murrah buffaloes from Calcutta, India

for breeding purposes. On Oct. 1, 1948, President Elpidio Quirino launched

the National Food Production Campaign, which included the importation of

buffaloes from Vietnam also for breeding purposes.

 

Similar shipments were recorded later as part of a hybridization project

aimed at producing crossbred buffaloes to improve genetic potentials for

milk and meat production. The last recorded shipments were on July 7, 1998

when the fourth batch of 591 Bulgarian Murrah Buffaloes (26 male and 565

female) was unloaded at Cagayan de Oro port directly from Bulgaria after a

month-long sea voyage.

 

Carabao breeding programs have limited success in the Philippines but on

April 5, 2004, the world's first calf produced out of vitrified-thawed

embryo was born. Authorities named the female calf " Glory " as the event

coincided with the 55th birthday of President Arroyo.

 

*Indian connections*

 

Indian businessmen have welcomed the call to export more dairy and meat

products to the Philippines and started firming up their investment

proposals. " We import a lot of food products from India. We will book new

orders from India, " said Kishu Sehwani, chairman of Alternatives Food Corp.

in the Philippines. Sehwani is a Filipino national of Indian origin. India

exports about 1.7 million tons of skimmed milk powder and 1.50 million tons

of buffalo meat to the Philippines annually.

 

Livestock producers, however, may not share the enthusiasm of Indian

businessmen. Hog raisers have perennially opposed carabeef importations,

saying they could transmit the FMD from India. Sammy Señoren, a former

journalist, who is now with the meat and food ingredient business,

disagreed.

 

Señoren, who has visited buffalo farms and modern slaughterhouses in India

on several occasions, said the Office International des Epizooties had

declared that there was no risk of transmission of the FMD virus to

importing countries as long as the international trade on Indian buffalo

meat followed the conditions set in the OIE code. The OIE, of which the

Philippines is a member, is the internationally recognized body of the World

Trade Organization that deals with animal health and diseases.

 

India, Señoren says, exports carabeef to more than 50 countries in Europe,

the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia. He also argued that carabeef

imports would stabilize the prices of chicken, pork and beef, which have

recently surged. A source in the meat processing industry agreed with

Señoren.

 

" More carabeef imports could actually drive down prices of meat products.

Local livestock producers fear competition. It's about time that consumers

are given a break and a choice on meat products, " the source said.