SM Poultry growers gears up for Xmas season

The poultry supply of Southern Mindanao may be stable but poultry growers in the region are prepping up for a foreseen demand for the commodity during the holiday seasons.

“An inventory conducted last July shows a chicken supply of 4.7 million,” Department of Agriculture XI-Livestock Division chief Dr. Rafael Mercado said.

The 4.7 million data comprises the native and broiler supply of both commercial and backyard poultry growers. Majority of the region’s poultry population or roughly 7- percent comes from the backyard growers.

Mercado said backyard poultry growers are those who grow 50 to 100 heads of broiler or native chickens in an area usually adjacent to their homes.

He said the survey revealed that some areas in the region were not able to reload their poultry farms with chicks. About ten percent of the growers failed to reload their poultry farms for one reason or another, he said, but some of them already reloaded even before the end of the survey.

“The poultry growers are reloading their farms now in preparation for a projected demand during the Christmas season,” he said. Barring all disasters, he added, the region can look at a steady supply of chicken during the holidays.

Christmas 2005 was very good for the consumers, he said, because the price of chicken was very low at P80 per kilo. The expected price of chicken last December was supposed to reach P100 to P105 per kilo but the stable supply pushed the prices down.(lovely a. carillo)