DA jump-starts national poultry program

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is jump-starting its national poultry program with an initial investment of P337 million as the country continues to grapple with African swine fever.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the agency wanted to expand the country’s poultry production and livelihood program where breeders would be organized into clusters and receive initial stocks of poultry animals to raise and propagate.

He added that this would continue the momentum of the poultry sector’s performance, which grew by 2.5 percent in the second quarter of the year.

Dar said the poultry sector continues to be a “major bright spot” as the agency aims to grow the agriculture industry by 2 percent this year.

The growth of the poultry industry is also seen to offset production losses in the livestock sector and provide more alternative sources of protein for Filipinos.

The program is also meant to “help farm families recover from the loss of jobs and unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and those whose poultry stocks were depleted by avian influenza.”

“Right now, we have the chance to build on the progress that we have made in the nation’s poultry sector. We have a chance to strengthen our nation’s food security, grow the economy even faster, create jobs, and lift people’s incomes,” Dar said.