Chicken Shortage: DA mulls rushing in stocks from VisMin

Caretakers attend to their chickens in one of the poultry farms in Cebu. (CDN FILE)

The Department of Agriculture has been considering tapping poultry-producing regions that was spared by Glenda to address the tight supply of chicken meat in Metro Manila.

“We have observed surpluses in Central Luzon, Central Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula,” said  Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said in an interview yesterday.

“We are trying to find ways on how this could be brought into Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog,” Proceso said.

The tapping of chicken supply from other regions was just one of the options that the Agriculture Department was considering to solve the chicken supply problem in Metro Manila that was caused by the onslaught of typhoon Glenda.

Proceso however assured that there’s no production shortage just a tightness of supply.

“Retail prices have indeed gone up slightly but we are monitoring the markets closely,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said in an interview.

Alcala acknowledged the temporary tightness of supply due to distribution issues, especially since Glenda wreaked havoc on the poultry industry, which has since been recovering and rehabilitating.

The DA’s field operations services said the typhoon cost livestock and poultry farms a total of about P2 billion, with the damage felt almost entirely in the Bicol region.

“During the fourth quarter, when the Christmas season comes, we will see the supply to be completely normal,” Alcala said.

In a statement, Agriculture Undersecretary Jose Reaño said the DA would also consider importation to help address the current tight supply.

“”But definitely, there is no shortage,” Reaño said, noting the availability of dressed chicken weighing 1.4 kilos to 1.6 kilos apiece.

He said that such numbers showed that poultry producers could still afford to wait for the “right weight” before selling to traders.

On Wednesday, Reaño told reporters that Jollibee Foods Corp. has been considering to import chicken products due to a supply disruption that led to the closure of some of its branches.
Jollibee management had blamed a change in its information technology system for the supply glitch.

Still, the undersecretary said the company has expressed intention to import and has started coordinating with the DA on how to go about it.
Earlier, Proceso also said that it would take two months for the supply of chicken meat to normalize in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.