By Manuel T. Cayon & Mary Grace Padin
Despite the onslaught of El Niño, a senior official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the country’s supply of pork and chicken is enough to fill domestic demand, especially during the holidays.
Agriculture Undersecretary Jose C. Reaño said the dry spell has yet to affect hogs and chicken in farms.
“We have sufficient supply of pork and chicken to last until the Christmas season. The hot weather has no effect on the animals yet. All housings use tunnel vents,” Reaño said in a text message.
The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), an attached agency of the DA, earlier warned that extreme heat caused by El Niño could harm the country’s livestock. The BAI said chickens and ducks are the most vulnerable to extreme heat.
As of last week, he said the country’s inventory of chicken has reached 12,000 metric tons (MT). Of this volume, 8,000 MT were locally produced.
Meanwhile, pork inventory as of last week amounted to 13,000 MT.
“The prices of pork and chicken are stable due to the increase in local output,” Reaño said.
Based on DA figures, the farm- gate price of chicken is currently at P73 to P75 per kilogram, while pork is at P97 to P98 per kg.
According to the daily price monitoring report of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance of the DA, the prevailing price of chicken in local markets reached P130 per kg, while pork liempo was priced at P200 per kg as of October 7.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the country’s chicken production in January to June grew by 5.18 percent to 817,560 MT, as compared to 777,300 MT in the same period last year. Hog production rose by 4.69 percent to 1.01 million MT from 966,000 MT.
As of August 13, figures from the DA showed that the damage caused by El Niño to the livestock and poultry sector amounted to only P11,000.
Meanwhile, the Regional Development Council has endorsed the inclusion of Davao region’s drought-mitigation plan in the National Roadmap to Address the Impact of El Niño (RAIN). The regional office of National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said RAIN is the proposed national road map to address the impact of El Niño.
Among the measures proposed were the P95-million El Niño Mitigation Plan of the regional DA “which covers effective water management, provision of open-source pumps, small farm reservoirs and spring development, cloud seeding, distribution of seeds/planting materials, and conduct of information and education campaign.”
The Neda said the regional action plan includes the “inputs provided by the local governments of Davao City and Davao del Norte on interventions for irrigation in affected areas and countermeasures to lessen the impact of the expected dry spell.”
The crafting of RAIN was entrusted to the Cabinet-level El Niño Task Force headed by Economic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan. Its members include representatives from the DA and the Department of Public Works and Highways, National Irrigation Administration, and the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization.
The road map would focus on food security, energy security and health and public safety. The El Niño Task Force Secretariat has already requested the action plans of local government units and regional line agencies to mitigate the impact of El Niño.