BACOLOD CITY – Negros Occidental is producing at least 1.2 million eggs a day, which is more than sufficient to meet the province's daily requirement amid the recent increase in the prices of the commodity, according to data released by the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO).
Dr.
Placeda Lemana, acting provincial veterinarian, said the continued rise in
inflation that led to higher costs of raw materials, inputs, and labor pushed
the prices of eggs up. “They (layers and growers) say that even though
there is enough supply of eggs, they have to increase prices because of these
reasons,” Lemana told reporters.
Data
from the PVO showed that Negros Occidental consumes 900,000 to 1 million eggs a
day compared to the daily production of 1.2 million eggs.
Lemana
said with the excess in the supply, layer farms in the province also supply
eggs to other provinces while Negros Occidental also brings in eggs from the
neighboring Bantayan Island in Cebu.
Last
month, some 7.4 million eggs were brought in from Bantayan Island while 1.7
million eggs were delivered in Negros Occidental from Jan.7 to 13 this year.
“If
you have noticed, we accept only those from Cebu. We don't bring in eggs from
Mindanao, Luzon, Panay and Guimaras because of the bird flu,"”the PVO
chief said
On
Dec. 6, Negros Occidental prohibited the entry of live birds and poultry
products from the neighboring Panay Island provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique
and Aklan and Guimaras Island as well as from Luzon and Mindanao, which have
confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza or bird flu to protect
its PHP8-billion poultry industry.
Exempted
from the ban are certain products, including processed and unprocessed raw
poultry meat, day-old chicks, and hatching eggs, including broiler, layer and
breeder and embryonated eggs, popularly known as “balut”, that will be allowed
entry regardless of shipping origin subject to compliance with requirements.
(Nanette Guadalquiver)
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