THE Department of Agriculture (DA) assured Monday of enough supply of chicken in the country, while it will look into why the arrival of imported chicken was delayed.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Jose Reaño said that there were still three million kilos of chicken inventory, thus, shortage of the product was a "remote" possibility.
"Nagpo-produce pa tayo araw-araw, and 31 days lang naman ready na ang poultry so there really is no reason for a shortage in the supply of chicken," Reaño.
He added that if nothing goes wrong, the delay in the arrival of the imported chicken is expected to stabilize in November.
Though the prices of chicken in the markets have remained stable, the official encouraged consumers to shift from chicken to pork, "since pork prices these days are low."
While admitting that Typhoon Glenda, which recently hit parts of the country, has indeed affected the supply of chicken from Southern Luzon, he said it has spared Central Luzon, the country's number one chicken-producing region.
From July to December of this year, eight to 11 million kilos of chicken should have been the expected chicken output from the Southern Luzon, he added.
Reaño said to help the affected farmers recover faster, the DA and LandBank are cooperating to give them loans at low interest rates so that they may be able to swiftly repair their houses and chicken coops.
He added the DA is also working on lowering the rate of the premium for the insurance of chicken.
Apart from this, Reaño said there were also efforts from the DA to increase the number of chicken processing plants and Triple A slaughterhouses.
The Undersecretary said Triple A slaughterhouses are requisites for exporting chicken.
The DA earlier said that 90 percent of Japan's chicken yakitori came from the Philippines.
According to the DA this is mainly due to the strict implementation of the rules governing the livestock industry and because "we have maintained our bird flu-free status."
Besides Japan, the Philippines also exports chicken to South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. The country also began exporting Peking ducks to Japan. (SDR/Sunnex)