00:00 Aside from the billions of pesos of fish caught in the river,
00:04 El Nino also affected the pigs.
00:06 How about the supply and price?
00:09 Bernadette Reyes is on the scene.
00:11 This barren land is one of the oldest fishing grounds that dried up due to the high temperature.
00:21 This is just one of the many effects of El Nino in the Bohol Basin.
00:24 Some of the reefs also dried up and the water from some rivers and even the Pilar Dam is decreasing.
00:29 In total, 36 towns in the province were affected by the flood
00:34 due to the state of calamity that the province is about to declare.
00:38 The damage caused by El Nino is severe in the agriculture sector.
00:42 In the whole country, the rice production reached 4.6 billion pesos,
00:47 3.7 billion pesos in corn,
00:49 1.6 billion pesos in high-value crops,
00:52 while 10.47 billion pesos in livestock and poultry.
00:56 According to the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc.,
00:59 aside from the pigs that are dying,
01:01 one of the common effects of the high temperature in pigs is their undergrowth.
01:07 Instead of being able to grow them to 115 to 120 kilos in live weight,
01:13 now it's like 90 to 100 kilos.
01:16 It's a blessing.
01:18 It's very difficult because the feeds are still expensive.
01:22 So of course, the chances are that the farmers, even if the pigs are small,
01:25 when they reach the right age, they will also produce.
01:28 The small ones are already able to earn money because there's no market.
01:34 Because of the hot weather, the price of pigs' food is also affected,
01:39 like corn, where the price of corn has reached 3.7 billion pesos.
01:44 The price of corn will increase if we don't have enough supply.
01:48 The Department of Agriculture congratulated the effects of El Nino on hog raisers.
01:53 Right now, we're importing 40% of the corn.
01:56 We want to replace it
01:59 so that we can increase the production of raw materials that we don't import.
02:04 In the last price monitoring of the Department of Agriculture,
02:07 the price of hogs increased by 20 pesos per kilo in some families in Metro Manila.
02:12 Here in Mega Q Mart in Quezon City,
02:14 the price of pigs increased from 330 to 400 pesos per kilo.
02:19 On the other hand, El Nino's hog raisers,
02:21 the DA assured that the supply of pigs is enough.
02:24 The retail price of pigs is also far from the farm gate price.
02:27 Sometimes, the difference is 50 to 100 pesos.
02:32 There are traders who take advantage.
02:35 So we will set our target to places that are really low
02:40 so that they won't take advantage of our consumers.
02:45 For GMA Integrated News, Bernadette Reyes, Nakatuto, 24 Hours.
02:51 (music)
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