MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has revived the price and volume watch panel and advisory groups for livestock and poultry.
In a special order signed last Tuesday, the DA reconvened the Price and Volume Watch Committee for Livestock and Poultry-Technical Committee discontinued by the previous administration, particularly under the term of then agriculture secretary William Dar.
The committee intends to gather accurate industry information, such as prices of poultry, livestock and corn commodities, as well as demand and supply trends.
Under the special order, the body will be chaired by DA Assistant Secretary for consumer affairs Kristine Evangelista and co-chaired by the director of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
Other members include the heads of the National Livestock Program, Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries, National Meat Inspection Service, Philippine Carabao Center, National Dairy Authority, Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service, DA-Minimum Access Volume, National Corn Program and Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
Meanwhile, there will be advisory groups for swine, broiler and layer, meat importers and processors, ruminant and vendors.
The Swine Advisory Group is composed of Chester Warren Tan of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc., Lawrence Chuapoco of Pilmico Foods Corp., Edwin Chen of Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Arnulfo Frontuna of the Swine Industry Federation, Jaime Sison of Foremost Farms and Zaoilo Lapus of College of Swine Practitioners.
The Broiler and Layer Advisory Group is composed of Jose Elias Inciong of United Broilers and Raisers Association, Chuapoco of Pilmico Foods, Rosette Angelie Arca of the Philippine Association of Broiler Integrators-San Miguel Foods Inc., Jun Aquino of PhilMalay Poultry Breeders Inc., Gregorio San Diego of Philippine Egg Board, Alicia Danque of Vitarich Corp., Leopoldo Mendoza and Tux Siddayao of Philippine Association of Breeder Layers Inc. and Cecille Virtucio of Batangas Egg Producers Cooperative.
Felix Tiukinhoy of Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc., Jess Cham of Meat Importers and Traders Association and Alyssa Tanlimco of Jollibee Foods Corp. will form the Meat Importers and Processors Advisory Group.
The Ruminant Advisory Group is composed of Virgilio Badilla of Federation of Cattle Raiser Association of the Philippines, Eduardo Lecciones of SRRA, and Rufo Llorin of Federation of Goat and Sheep Producers Associations of the Philippines Inc. while the Vendors Advisory Group will be represented by Manny Pareja of UVA.
Evangelista said the revival of the committee has long been recommended by stakeholders, particularly of livestock raisers.
“They always raise this during stakeholders meeting and the good news is this is now revived. It’s going to be something official so stakeholders can monitor the movement in supply. The price and volume watch is definitely going to help producers because it will guide them if there is enough supply or not,” she said.
“That is something that will also be helpful to the department to determine the sufficiency of commodities, particularly of livestock,” she added.
While this is a welcome development for the livestock and poultry sectors, the price and volume watch committee lacks representatives from the policymaking side, according to Inciong.
“In fairness to the current DA, the issuance of special order reviving or reconstituting the task force on price and volume watch is a good first step. Although they need to add the complete policymaking team package there. You need National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, Bureau of Customs. You need probably also the Department of Science and Technology so that it is a complete consultative arrangement,” he said at the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. briefing yesterday.
The DA welcomed the proposal to include other government agencies.
“It would be helpful to see all sides, different perspectives to come up with a solution. Sometimes, every now and then, we are also part of the group that has to find ways to correct inflation. Having other agencies involved will probably be beneficial also,” Evangelista said.
Nonetheless, the revival of the committee will help make informed decisions in the livestock and poultry sectors.
“Everyone will be there, everyone can present their data, their realities then there will be more or less, on the part of everyone informed decisions,” Inciong said.
Before the revival of the committee, the National Banner Program Committee on Poultry, Livestock and Corn temporarily assumed its function.
Zubiri OKs import
Amid this development, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has agreed with the decision of President Marcos to import pork, chicken, sugar and other products to bring their prices down and address inflation.
During the Kapihan sa Manila forum yesterday, Zubiri said Marcos’ decision was meant to bring down the prices of products to protect consumers from traders’ abuses and address the inflation rates.
“So I also understood the President when he said we need to import sugar and food because sometimes locally produced markets are very expensive,” the Senate president added.
He noted that whenever Marcos announces that he will approve the importation of certain products, like pork, chicken and sugar, some representatives from the farmers’ federation would oppose the decision.
“But I would say let’s help the President too, we have to find a way to bring the prices lower,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri said Kadiwa Centers are basically giving farmers markets to sell their products since they have no sufficient logistics like trucking to transport their harvests.
He particularly mentioned the farmers’ association in Bukidnon, which has no capability to transport their products to Manila, and mainly entails a system by the DA where logistics are provided to bring down the prices.
“With due respect, me, I’m an agriculturist by education and by profession, and I see that the government can’t do anything when inflation is too high,” the Senate president said.
“Right now, they say that for December, the inflation rate is about over eight percent – it’s looking at that, 8.4 percent. It’s too bad that your growth rate, with a possible seven-percent growth rate, is that your inflation is higher than your growth rate,” he added. – Cecille Suerte Felipe