AGRIBUSINESS firm EGGcelsior Poultry Farm Inc. is developing a sustainable poultry farm in Argao, Cebu to boost local egg production.
EGGcelsior, in a statement sent on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, said the farm, which will have 20 state-of-the-art poultry facilities, will rise in the fourth quarter of 2019 in Barangay Capio-an.
Once completed and operational, the facility is set to augment the supply of eggs to support the growing domestic market, the company said.
EGGcelsior forged a partnership with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) in December 2018 to finance the development of the poultry farm.
The company said the partnership is seen to boost the agriculture sector and complement the government’s recent thrust to push for more investments in agriculture and drive more contribution to the country’s economic growth.
“We would like to be part of uplifting the lives of the Filipino people by producing quality food, as well as creating more economic activities through jobs created from the investment,” said EGGcelsior chief executive officer Alvin Hing.
Agriculture and forestry in Central Visayas recorded a slower growth in 2018, from 9.4 percent (in 2017) to 1.1 percent. Fishing, on the other hand, rebounded from a contraction in 2017.
“While we are happy that fishing rebounded and grew by 3.3 percent in 2018, the entire agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing sector still needs utmost government attention,” said the National Economic and Development Authority 7 Director Efren Carreon.
With the opening of the EGGcelsior farm, Hing added that they hope to help in stirring growth for the agriculture sector as well as raising the standards of how egg farming is done in the country.
He said the farm will adopt modern technologies for a more efficient egg production while adhering to sustainable and eco-friendly operations.
The total volume of chicken egg production during the first quarter of 2019 stood at 142.01 thousand metric tons (MT), up by 8.8 percent compared with the 130.55 thousand MT from the same period in 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Increases in chicken egg production were registered in all regions, except for Cordillera Administrative and Bicol regions.
Davao region, with chicken egg production of 8.36 thousand MT, reported the highest increase of 43.4 percent from the 5.83 thousand MT in January to March 2018.
The three highest producing regions in the first quarter of 2019 were Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Central Visayas.
Among the regions, Calabarzon was the top producer of chicken eggs at 43.86 thousand MT, accounting for 30.9 percent of the total chicken egg production.
This was followed by Central Luzon with a 19.8 percent share and Central Visayas with a 9.4 percent share. Collectively, these three regions comprised 60.1 percent of the total chicken egg production of the country.
The average farm gate price of chicken egg from commercial farms was recorded at P4.68 per piece during the first quarter, higher by 2.1 percent from the same quarter last year.