PHILIPPINES – As the Philippine poultry sector recovers from the bird flu outbreak, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol sees no urgent need to import chicken for the Christmas season.
“No. We have enough chicken supply,” Mr Piñol said in an interview in San Juan City on Thursday.
Mr Piñol said that he is in fact, discouraging imports because the country’s farmers are just now recovering.
GMA News Online reports the farm gate price of chicken in bird flu-hit Pampanga and Nueva Ecija has returned to P95 per kilo compared with P10 to P15 during the avian flu outbreak in August, the Cabinet official noted.
“They’re recovering now. In fact, the price of chicken is high again,” he said.