SENATOR Cynthia Villar pushes the development of the livestock, poultry and dairy industry in a bid to ensure national food sufficiency, .
“These industries account for more than a quarter of agricultural output in 2023,” said Villar, chairperson ng Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food.
About 29.8 percent of Filipino protein consumption come from pork and chicken.
Villar also warned of protein deficiency and malnutrition if Filipinos are no longer capable of buying these products due to high cost.
“The hog sector in the country is still struggling against the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak since 2019 and needs to bounce back to support small hog raisers and commercial farms,” Villar said.
The ASF was blamed for the P100-billion losses in the agriculture sector.
The senator also said the hog sector in the country was still struggling against the ASF outbreak since 2019. It needs to bounce back to support small hog raisers and commercial farms.
He also cited the need for the poultry sector to have sustainable inputs like feeds and medicines against pets and diseases for a more efficient production system.
“Imported milk in the country accounts for 99 percent of supply which makes milk unavailable and unaffordable to our growing population,” said the senator.
She further stated that milk production is struggling and needs a boost to be able to meet address local demand, especially on the milk feeding programs in schools and the growing population.
The poultry sector also needs sustainable inputs such as feeds, medicines against pest and diseases and more efficient production systems.
For the longest time, the LPD (livestock, poultry, and dairy) sector has been left to be run by the private sector, now with this Act, the government will actively support and participate in the development of the sector.
Villar hopes the Livestock, Poultry and Dairy Industries will be competitive once Senate Bill No. 2558 or “An Act Strengthening the Livestock, Poultry and Dairy Development and Competitiveness, Rationalizing the Organization and Functions of Relevant Government Agencies, Creating an Competitiveness Enhancement is passed into law.
One of the salient features of this law is the creation of the Livestock, Poultry and Dairy Competitiveness Enhancement Fund from tariff collected on imported LPD products which shall consist of P7.8billion annually for the next 10 years. This fund is over and above the regular funding under the National Livestock program of the DA in the General Appropriations Act.