May 29, 2023

New government task force in Philippines focuses on diseases affecting local poultry

The Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) has created a task force that will address issues and disease outbreaks plaguing the local poultry industry.

A critical component of the task force is the involvement of the private sector, DA Assistant Secretary and deputy spokesperson Rex Estoperez said.

"The task force includes the private sector. Actually, one of the proposals of the private sector is to have and be part of the task force," he said, noting it will focus on addressing diseases, both existing and emerging.

United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) president Elias Jose Inciong confirmed that the group requested to form the task force, which would primarily focus on disease outbreaks.

"It is necessary as there is no inter-department planning for worse scenarios," he said.

Latest BAI data showed  that three provinces have ongoing bird flu cases – namely Magalang, Arayat and San Fernando City in Pampanga, Rizal municipality in Kalinga, and Santa Cruz and Lumban in Laguna.

In the first quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the population of native/improved chicken and broiler chicken grew by 5.6% and 2.1%, respectively.

However, layer chicken stocks reported a decline of 0.2%, which industry stakeholders said was due to the impact of bird flu and high feed costs.

- Philstar