Tainted wings?

The United Broiler Raisers Association recently called the attention of the Department of Agriculture regarding cheap imported chicken wings that came from Brazil. Aside from the fact that the importation directly competes with local raisers, concerns were also expressed about the fact that Brazil has one of the highest cases of COVID-19 infections and the shipments could be carrying the virus. Aside from those two valid worries, I find it totally inappropriate and selfish on the part of the importers to be importing products that are locally available just because it is cheaper and more convenient for them to import. You could be saving local businesses and jobs instead of prioritizing how to maximize your profits. At the very least, the Bureau of Animal Industry should align themselves with the efforts of the DTI, PCCI and NGOs in promoting and prioritizing locally made, raised and produced products. The DOH should clamp down on such imports from high-risk areas in the same way other nations have warned their citizens of traveling to the Philippines due to the high number of community transmissions.

In the past it was easy to justify importation simply because many consumer or professional goods were not available in the Philippines. But nowadays, we have most of the basic necessities that are produced in state-of-the-art facilities and world-class equipment. The problem we have is the thinking that if we buy “Cheap,” we save money and extend our profit or benefit. We all know that importing so much cheaper pork or pork products from abroad is why we nearly wiped out the hog industry in the Philippines through ASF. For a pocket full of millions, we lose billions and Filipinos now have to pay the price; a higher price for pork.

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With things picking up in the agriculture sector, people are once again talking to us about putting up poultry, egg and hog raising farms as a business. To be safe, I automatically point people to the experts: BMeg or Dominant CZ poultry, because these two companies know what they are doing and I won’t endorse anyone I have not worked with, worked out or tried out. The funny thing about Filipinos is that they will spend all the required cash to build the right facilities, buy the right livestock or material and they will even enroll in 1-7 or 10-day seminars on poultry, goat or hog raising. BUT the first sin or mistake they automatically commit is to buy cheap feeds or mix the cheap feed with premium feeds. It’s crazy! It’s like searching for the best coffee in the market, roasting the beans, grinding them and finally brewing yourself a nice hot cup BUT adding water to dilute it! You may not buy baby toys but you don’t feed babies poor quality food!

Sorry this is my pet peeve, especially when I give lectures on backyard hog raising, or when people talk to me about raising poultry and fighting cocks or large dogs like our Great Danes. People almost always think price but never quality or equate it to quality livestock. Ironically, they will buy imported dog food but use cheap hog feeds. With so many feed mills and sellers all over the country, it is no surprise that many backyard raisers are confused about how to choose the right brand. After making the same mistakes in the past, the first thing I did as a journalist and as a backyard raiser was to find out the actual users’ experience of fellow “farmers.” When I enrolled at the International Training Center for Pig Husbandry in Lipa, Batangas I casually inquired from my classmates who had farms what their experiences were with various brands. Not surprisingly, they all use the leading brand in the market, which is BMeg. The question is why? They can only tell you their testimony and experience but they can’t tell you why one brand is the market leader while all other fall under “The Rest.”

I suppose the answer has to do with the company’s seniority and superiority in the market. They’ve been around for so long and being one of the many corporations under the business giant San Miguel Corporation, one can only imagine the strict standards of operations they live by. In fact, ever since Ramon Ang took the reins at SMC, one of the companies that benefitted was SMFI/BMeg, through a massive modernization and nationwide expansion program. Part of the modernization came through a partnership with the global industry leader and solution provider Bühler Switzerland to construct mega feed mills. This modernization program is a forward looking process started a few years back that now benefits the company as well as its customers in terms of developing, designing and producing feeds that are highly nutritious, hygienic, free of foreign or hazardous materials and, most importantly, designed for the needs and requirements of animals and operators in the Philippines.

Going full circle, BMeg feeds use locally sourced materials to insure sustainable production and as a result helps other agricultural communities and providers maintain jobs and local economies. They are a local company supporting and buying local. You can buy local and still buy quality. When it comes to my pet pigs we use BMeg Premium Hog Feeds, when it comes to our six dogs we use “nutri CHUNKS” which they gobble up, and when it comes to our poultry or game fowl I depend totally on BMeg Integra. These are proudly, professionally made in modern facilities in the Philippines. Don’t spend a fortune buying or building up your livestock and facilities and then mess it all up scrimping on feeds. You pay for quality – you get quality.

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