THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured sufficient supply of pork and egg for the upcoming Christmas season.
In a press conference, DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said there will be a steady supply of pork considering the improved local production and scheduled meat importation.
“Iyong nabanggit ko dati na, iyon nga na inayos ko ngayon… iyong import naman ay tuluy-tuloy iyan dahil parating ngayong fourth quarter – ito iyong naproseso noong mga nakaraang buwan pa ng Bureau of Animal Industry,” De Mesa said.
“May mga pumapasok naman regularly ng importation. Iyong ASF [African Swine Fever] naman ay nandito na sa atin, nagsimula ito noong August 2019 sa Rodriguez, Rizal, noong Regional Director pa ako at marami nang lugar na tinamaan ng ASF iyong napa-graduate na natin from infected zone o red zone into pink zone, iyong buffer zone natin hanggang yellow zone,” he added.
He said the fight against ASF in the country is continuous, noting the pest control, prevention, biosecurity and repopulation initiative by the department.
He said the conduct of testing for anti-ASF vaccine is also ongoing and is yielding positive development.
In terms of egg supply, De Mesa said they do not see any problem or disruption.
“Pero dahil stable iyong ating supply pati iyong production natin ng day-old pullets na magiging layers pagdating ng panahon ay maganda iyong population so wala tayong nakikitang problema,” he said.
“At iyong Avian Influenza na nakaapekto sa Central Luzon, bagama’t may ilan naapektohan ay unti-unti na rin ang nakaka-recover,” he added.
According to the agriculture official, egg consumption usually increases during the opening of classes as more students prefer eggs for breakfast.
There is also high demand from hotels, restaurants and industrial users (HRIs). About 40 percent of the supply goes to industrial users, while 60 percent for household consumption.
Meanwhile, De Mesa also assured the stable supply of rice in the country by the first quarter of 2024 considering the abundant palay harvest during the wet season coupled with rice imports arranged for the third quarter of 2023.
He said they are expecting to increase the country’s stock of rice to 77 days of national rice stock within October and will further increase to 94 days of stock by November during which the wet season harvest ends.
“So wala pa rito iyong additional imports noong buwan ng Setyembre at katapusan ng third quarter ay umabot sa 271,000 metric tons iyong na-import,” De Mesa said.
“Ang kabuuan, hanggang end ng third quarter is 2.4 million metric tons. This is 600,000 metric tons lower than three million metric tons of the same period last year,” he added.
De Mesa expressed confidence that the increase in the supply of rice will have a positive impact in lowering the country’s inflation rate which swelled at 6.1 percent in September.
The main reason for the higher inflation rate in September, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, is the rapid increase in the prices of food.(SunStar Philippines)