Visayas poultry sector reeling from impact of Yolanda

MANILA, Philippines - Poultry raiser Bounty Fresh said the poultry industry in the Visayas is now reeling from the impact of Super Typhoon Yolanda as poultry population in the region decreases significantly and contract-growers suffer infrastructure damages.

Bountry Fresh director Edwin Chen said they are now rallying their contract growers and dealers in the region to participate in rehabilitation measures to revive production.

“The poultry industry is hard-hit. The major egg-producing site in the Visayas is Bantayan Island located north of Cebu. Around 80 to 90 percent of the operations there were destroyed,” he said.

Bantayan Island supplies eggs to typhoon-battered Samar and Leyte.

Chen estimates that of the original population of one million layers in Bantayan Island, only around 100,000 were left after the storm.

The company’s contract growers in Visayas also suffered damages to their layer buildings. The company, Chen said, has coordinated with the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) for the provision of soft loans for growers.

After the buildings are repaired, the company will resume supply of layer chicks.

“We are encouraging our contract growers to immediately repair their layer buildings. The government is willing to extend soft loans to contract growers so they can conduct repairs or buy new equipment,” he said.

The company is also urging their dealers to grow ready to lay pullets themselves for distribution while contract growers are repairing layer houses.

While egg supply is scant in Visayas, Bounty Fresh is augmenting supply coming from hatcheries in Luzon and Mindanao.