BIOSECURITY measures and good hygiene practices for farms are the prime advocacies of the newly-formed Davao Poultry and Egg Producers Inc. (DPEPI) to address the pressing problems the industry is facing like the fly infestation that triggers disturbance among nearby communities.
DPEPI president lawyer Lalaine Lilibeth dela Victoria said they decided to gather all players in poultry industry to come up with a unified stand and to provide solution to complaints that they are facing.
"There are things that are thrown to us but we are addressing that as a group now and we will be able to do that if we will be exposed to the people to understand what the poultry industry is really like and how the poultry industry help in the community," she said.
Dela Victoria said that in Davao City, there are about 60 big and small growers. She qualified that small means those proprietor whose farms have a capacity of 10,000 while the big ones have more than 300,000 capacity.
Of this number, they have 25 members and are still encouraging other players to join their crusade to sustain the growth of the poultry industry in the city.
The organization, she said, self-regulates so that within the group they can plan without the intervention of the government.
Happy Togonon of DPEPI said that they have been working with the office of Agriculture and Food Committee head Councilor Marissa Abella in educating other industry players on the good practices and biosecurity problems following the complaints of resident on foul smell and flies coming from the farms.
"That is actually the reason why we were organized because we were told by the office of Councilor Abella. We were asked to help support the issues that are being thrown to the poultry industry," she said.
Meanwhile, DPEPI treasurer Vincent Valdellon underscored the importance of biosecurity management plan to sustain the business. This is one of the important factors that must be considered before venturing into poultry.
Biosecurity is defined as a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases in crops and livestock, quarantined pests, invasive alien species and living modified organisms.
"There's no reason why you should operate if you are not able to maintain biosecurity in your farm," Valdellon said.