THE Department of Agriculture (DA) assures pork and poultry supply in Davao Region are “more than enough” during the upcoming holiday season.
DA-Davao Regional Livestock Program Coordinator Monday Aretaño pronounced that Dabawenyos will have enough supply of pork, poultry, and eggs until the year ends.
She revealed that currently, pork is at 183 percent sufficiency level “until yearend”, chicken egg is at a 5 percent surplus level, and 113 sufficiency level for chicken poultry.
Aretaño also said most of the pork and poultry are coming from private entities and backyard farms.
As for the possible change of prices, Aretaño said prices may go high but it will depend on the business owners’ other production costs such as rent, feeds, inputs, fuel, and logistics.
“Siyempre, yung negosyo, fast-moving, probably there will be added cost of production… in the business, ganoon talaga ‘yan, but then, given the supply we have, there's no reason na talagang tataas ‘yung presyo,” Aretaño said during the AgriBiz media forum at SM Lanang on October 10.
Aretaño also said that with Davao City achieving the pink zone on African Swine Fever (ASF), she expects pork and poultry prices to be stable as well.
Areas under the pink zone as per ASF color-coding scheme can allow pork products and swine to be moved around within the city. These are also localities that serve as buffers where the deadly virus is not present but they are adjacent to a locality declared as a “red” zone where the infection is detected.
“During Christmas season, the demand is very high and given the supply we have in Davao Region medyo surplus naman tayo, we are expecting a price trend na hindi masyado mataas, but with the surplus of supply, naturally wala talagang price increase,” DA-Davao Senior Agriculturist Agnes Cecilia Roble said.
According to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Davao Region is noted as a significant producer of dressed poultry. As of 2021, the region produced 38,856,985 units of dressed poultry, with approximately 99.88 percent of that coming from Davao del Sur, which includes Davao City.
The PSA statement also highlighted that Davao del Sur had the highest value of production in agriculture and fisheries among the provinces in the Davao Region, amounting to a remarkable P54.82 billion. Furthermore, the data revealed that the Davao Region contributed around 5.8 percent to the total dressed poultry production in the country.
Notably, National Economic and Development Authority-Davao Region (Neda-Davao) Director Maria Lourdes Lim said the agricultural sector, including livestock and poultry, recorded a “minor” growth, as it posted 3 percent growth in 2022 from 2021’s 0.8 percent. The sector posted a P146 billion output for 2022.
“This suggests that the value of the agricultural production in 2022 only marginally increased,” Lim said.
Lim said it can be attributed to “modest improvements” in the agriculture supply chain, effective response and continuing measures against the African Swine fever (ASF) and avian flu diseases, and an increasing consumer demand due to expanding economic activities and more favorable climatic conditions.
The growth can also be attributed to the recovery of backyard farming and the active involvement of local government units and private sectors in livestock and poultry, which contributed to the increase in chicken, cattle, and chicken egg production. ICE