 | ‘Poultry, livestock sectors to hit 2015 production-growth goals’ |
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www.businessmirror.com.ph November 16, 2015 Despite the onslaught of El Niño, the Philippines is poised to meet its 2015 production-growth target of 9 percent for the poultry subsector and 5 percent for the livestock subsector, a senior official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said over the weekend. Barring strong typhoons or diseases which could devastate local animals, Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Jose C. Reaño told the BusinessMirror that the two subsectors are well on its way to achieving the production targets for the year. “We will [hit production targets] if nothing goes wrong up to December or until the end of the year,” Reaño said. Improvements in the poultry and livestock sectors have been recorded in the first to the third quarters of the year, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). For the third quarter of the year alone, the livestock subsector registered a 3.25-percent increase in production. In January to September, output grew 3.92 percent. The PSA said the increase was due to the sustained high demand from local meat establishments in many regions. Meanwhile, the poultry subsector grew by 8.76 percent in the third quarter of 2015 and increased by 6.32 percent in terms of gross value in January to September. Reaño said the growth of the two sub-sectors can be attributed to the improvement in the productivity of breeders and growers. “Lahat ng factors na kailangan natin for the improvement of production naibigay natin. Proper regulations and policies were also implemented. It was conducive for people to raise chickens,” Reaño said. Reaño added that the good performance of the poultry and livestock industries is expected to be sustained until next year. “We are definitely looking forward na magtuloy-tuloy ang magandang performance ng poultry and livestock sub-sectors,” he said. Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the livestock and poultry sub-sectors are expected to boost Philippine agriculture growth this year. He said the sustained increase in the demand for pork and chicken meat will increase the expansion of poultry growers and hog raisers. Meanwhile, the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) said poultry growers will not be able to increase broiler production by 11 percent to 1 billion this year. Broiler production in 2014 reached 900 million. “That [1 billion broilers] was the production potential based on the breeders in place. We are not going to meet that potential,” Ubra President Elias Jose Inciong said. “There was a glut in the second quarter so players became cautious. Also, the unusual weather [El Niño] made for difficult growing conditions in the second and third quarters,” Inciong added. Data from the PSA showed that the country’s chicken production in nine months grew 6.46 percent to 1.21 million metric tons (MMT), from 1.14 MMT recorded in the same period last year. Hog production for the January-to-September period also rose by 4.38 percent to 1.51 MMT, as compared to 1.45 MMT posted in 2014. Source:‘Poultry, livestock sectors to hit 2015 production-growth goals’ |
