DA, poultry farmers to craft industry roadmap

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will formulate a five-year development roadmap for the country’s poultry and livestock industry in cooperation with poultry and livestock raisers following a dialogue between Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol and poultry raisers on September 13, 2017.

Piñol said the DA also committed to help poultry farmers market their poultry products with a program to ensure fair farmgate price for poultry products following complaints that live birds are still being sold at P20 to P30 per kilogram (kg) while market prices for dressed chicken has reached P120/kg to P130/kg.

In a dialogue at the DA main office under the aegis of the Philippine Council on Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) Committee on Poultry, Livestock and Feed Crops, Piñol announced he has also created a task force headed by Dr. Ernesto Gonzalez, director of the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), to conduct seminars all over the country to teach farmers proper methods in raising chicken and other poultry.

Piñol said he agreed with poultry raisers to respond with better measures through stronger coordination between the government and poultry industry stakeholders.

The planning session for the poultry and livestock industries’ five-year development roadmap will also be presented to Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, Interior and Local Government Acting Secretary Catalino Cuy and Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial to ensure their departments’ role in the different aspects of the development roadmap would be attuned to their own department’s plans.

Piñol said he hopes the development roadmap would include all the wishlist of the poultry industry stakeholders, including the credit facilities for farmers, adequate and effective bio-security programs to prevent any health threats to poultry and humans alike like laboratories that could be funded starting in the 2019 budget of the DA.