The Department of Agriculture (DA) has requested P100 million for the Avian Influenza Prevention and Control Program to prevent further outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, a senior lawmaker confirmed on Tuesday.
In a statement following a March 7 letter of Agriculture Secretary William Dar, House Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said he will endorse the request of the DA for P100 million to prevent the spread of H5N1 strain of bird flu, a highly contagious avian disease, that could ravage the country’s poultry farms if left unmitigated.
Salceda, also the Co-Chair of the House Economic Stimulus and Recovery Cluster, requested the funds to be granted to the DA in the 2023 national budget “as a separate item from the National Livestock Program.”
According to Salceda, the next year’s budget is already being prepared by the Department of Budget and Management.
In the letter, Dar asked for an endorsement to the President, the Chairman of the Economic Cluster, or the House leadership and to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to request for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control Program funding of at least P100 million to be included in the regular General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“Currently funding for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control Program is sourced under the National Livestock Program (NLP). The funding will be used as operational fund to strengthen the laboratory diagnosis from the national to regional laboratories. It will also be used to support disease investigation and surveillance activities on backyard and commercial duck, quail, and poultry farms, and wild birds,” said Dar.
Meanwhile, Dar assured that there are consolidated efforts of the DA, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), DA Regional Field Offices and respective Local Government Units (LGUS) to prevent and control the recently confirmed cases of avian influenza among duck and quail farms in limited areas of Luzon.
“Disease control measures have already been applied in the affected areas as prescribed in the Avian Influenza Protection Program Manual of Procedures (AIPP-MOP), and surveillance activities are still on-going,” said Dar.
Also, Dar asked the lower chamber to help the DA in requesting to the Bureau of Customs to intensify their efforts on bioafety and to ensure the condemnation of all smuggled potential carriers of avian influenza.
Dar has also requested the Philippine Ports Authority and the Department of Transportation to work with the agency in crafting guidelines to strengthen bird flu prevention and control measures.
Meanwhile, Salceda said he wrote to the House leadership and the Economic Development Cluster of the Duterte cabinet about the matter.
“The early detection, management, and prevention of Avian flu among our poultry supply will be critical to ensuring that we do not see in poultry the kind of price hikes, at above 40%, seen in pork prices due to the African Swine Fever. Fighting food inflation will be crucial to our economic recovery, and the request appears to me to be a very good and very cheap investment in protecting our poultry supply,” he said.
Also, Salceda warned against a “triple whammy” in food prices, given oil price hikes and a possible supply issue in world wheat supply.
Salceda already warned of possible increases in bread prices due to supply constraints, amid the ongoing conflict between Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine, the fifth largest.
The solon noted that “poultry accounts for as much as 18% of the Filipino’s protein sources. Poultry here is already produced at around 30% higher cost due to feeds. If we see avian flu among our farms, that will be disaster for poultry meat prices and eggs.”
“We are only recovering from the effects of African Swine Fever, and as you can see, the higher pork prices are taking a longer time normalizing even when ASF is fading. Prices tend to be sticky that way. You don’t want poultry prices to go up, because once they do, it may be very difficult to bring it back to pre-bird flu levels. Then, you would face pressure to increase wages, and so on,” Salceda said. (Jasper Y. Arcalas)
SOURCE: https://businessmirror.com.ph
