Agencies work to include eggs in relief packs

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture is eyeing a collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to include eggs in its disaster relief packs as a way of helping producers and promoting nutrition, a ranking DA official revealed.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa said the Batangas Egg Producers Multipurpose Cooperative or BEPCO has been producing roasted eggs that can last up to six months.

“We want to promote eggs as the number one source of protein. It is very cheap and we have roasted eggs produced by BEPCO… It can be used by the DSWD (because) it can last up to six months. You can distribute it and it is really good for the health, instead of noodles, canned goods. We can distribute pakbet, instant chopsuey, eggs and even chicken and pork,” De Mesa said.
He added that the department is currently promoting instant chopsuey and instant pinakbet.

“We will schedule a meeting with (DSWD) Undersecretary (Edu) Punay to promote this and very importantly, the number one protein source is egg as we have good production in the Philippines,” De Mesa said.

He cited a survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority showing that the good production of poultry and eggs helped in the overall growth of the agriculture sector in the first quarter of 2024.

To address malnutrition in the country, De Mesa said Filipino children should be encouraged to eat more eggs. A medium-sized egg, based on the DA monitoring of Metro Manila markets, costs between P5 and P9 a piece.