Chicken supply in peril as lockdown chokes poultry farmers’ access to markets, supplies

MANILA – Poultry farmers are finding it difficult to supply chicken to Metro Manila and parts of Luzon because local government units are not implementing the policies laid down by the national government, the head of an industry group said on Sunday. 

The United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) said some LGUs have set up roadblocks and personnel restrictions that have affected their deliveries and supply chains. This was in spite of the order from the national government to allow food deliveries through checkpoints.

“There was an LGU in Nueva Ecija who piled 2 dump trucks in the middle of the road and no one can pass (not) even their constituents. Things like those disrupt the supply chain and also the movement of essential personnel,” UBRA president Bong Inciong said in an interview with ANC.

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Central Luzon and the Calabarzon areas are particularly critical to the supply of poultry to Metro Manila and Luzon, Inciong said. 

Poultry farmers, he said, hope that by this week, the national government will be able to convince LGUs to withdraw restrictions on the movement of poultry farm personnel; the delivery of feeds, medicines and other supplies; as well as the delivery of poultry to markets.

“If we don’t straighten this out… in 30 days we will start to feel the effects.”

The poultry industry has also been battered by the drop in demand, which plunged farmgate prices of chicken to P30 on Saturday from P69 before the lockdown, Inciong said.