SUPLAY NG MANOK, BABOY SAPAT

TINIYAK ng Department of Agriculture (DA) na may sapat na suplay ng pork at  poultry products sa bansa hanggang sa first quarter ng 2021.

Sa report kay Agriculture Secretary William Dar, sinabi ng National Livestock Program (NLP) ng ahensiya na mahigit sa 213,500 hogs mula sa Visayas af Mindanao ang dinala sa Metro Manila at mga kalapit na lalawigan magmula noong Mayo 2020 upang madagdagan ang suplay ng pork products.

“We sincerely thank our hog raisers and their respective local government officials in the Visayas and Mindanao for promptly heeding our call to transport their hogs to Metro Manila and thus ensure the supply of pork this holiday season and onto January 2021 and beyond,” sabi ni Secretary Dar.

Ayon kay DA-NLP Head at  Undersecretary for Livestock William Medrano, karamihan sa mga baboy ay nagmula sa Region 12 o Soccsksargen, na nagpadala ng mahigit 88,800 at nadagdagan pa magmula noong Mayo, na bumubuo sa 42 percent ng total shipment, sumusunod ang Region 6 o Western Visayas, na may 52,700 head o 25 percent.

Sa pagpapatupad ng quarantine at lockdown dahil sa COVID-19 at sa insidente ng African Swine Fever (ASF) sa Luzon, inatasan ni Dar ang DA regional directors sa Visayas at Mindanao na makipag-ugnayan sa swine raisers para maisaayos ang paghahatid ng kanilang hogs aa Metro Manila.

“Due to the ASF, the country’s pork inventory suffered at an alarming level, and the move to ship hogs from Visayas and Mindanao was a pre-emptive measure to arrest the worsening pork supply and prices in Metro Manila,” anang kalihim.

“On behalf of the DA family, I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to our local chief executives for their proactive role in the unhampered transport of various food items from their respective provinces to Metro Manila, and for the hog raisers’ groups for partnering and cooperating with the DA during these trying times. The fruition of our partnership is adequate and reasonably-priced food on our table,” dagdag pa niya.

Sa kanyang panig, sinabi ni  Usec. Medrano na bilang karagdagan sa live hogs, ang frozen pork inventory ng bansa ay nasa  32,724 metric tons (MT), hanggang noong unang linggo ng Disyembre, batay sa report ng DA-National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).

“We have also surplus supply of poultry meat, with an inventory of 43,345 MT of frozen dressed chicken as of first week of December, 46% more than last year’s level,” dagdag ni Usec. Medrano added.