PH sees pork shortage by year-end – Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — While supplies of rice, corn, chicken and fish are enough for the rest of 2020, the country may face a shortage in the supply of pork toward the end of the year.

“Pork supply is enough until the third quarter but may register a deficit in the fourth quarter,” said President Rodrigo Duterte in his seventh weekly report to Congress.

Citing data from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the President said the expected deficit is based on a projected total annual demand of 1,203,827 metric ton (MT) of pork and the projected supply of 1,118,101 MT of pork.

Duterte, however, assured the public that the country would have enough supply of rice, corn, chicken and fish for the whole year amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“The DA projects a surplus stock of 3,326,161 MT of rice, 4,073,451 MT of corn and 590,627 MT of chicken by the end of the year,” the report said.

Fish supply will be marginally sufficient until the end of the year, with a surplus of 16,914 MT of fish expected.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration, on the other hand, maintained that the supply of raw sugar and refined sugar would be good for four months and five months, respectively.

“The Department of the Interior and Local Government has directed all local government units to align their actions with the DA’s rice resiliency program, which seeks to increase food sufficiency and ensure food availability and affordability across the country,” the report said.

It added that concerned government agencies continue to intensify their efforts and programs to ensure the availability of food in affected areas, such as tapping e-commerce platform to sell produce of local farmers, distribution of vegetable seeds and teaching new technologies to farmers.