THE Southern Philippines Egg Producers Association (SPEPA) and Northern Mindanao Egg Producers Association are lobbying for the establishment of another layer breeder and hatchery in Cagayan de Oro City to meet the increasing demand in Mindanao, which Davao City shares one of the biggest demand.
Teresita Pascual, vice president for agribusiness of Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., said that the proposed project has to be approved by DA, which would require having proper quarantine for disease prevention.
“The facilities are needed because there was a limitation on sourcing breeder eggs,” she said.
She added that apart from meeting the demand of the island, the facility is also seen to reduce the importation of day-old pullets.
At present, Mindanao is estimated to produce some five million eggs daily. Also, the only existing egg hatchery in Mindanao was in Bukidnon, which can only cover the area itself.
Based on the association’s estimates, some P20 million will be needed to establish a hatchery alone. It will cover the construction of incubator, hatchery facility and land acquisition.
“We observed a significant number of deaths of chicks during the importation of day-old pullets from Luzon via plane, thus the association’s urge for the establishment of this as we observed a significant number of deaths of chicks during the importation of day-old pullets from Luzon via plane,” she said adding that a lack of ventilation in the aircraft caused the problem.