The Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc. said Thursday it supports the Department of Agriculture’s plan to temporarily ban imports of Dutch poultry products following the recent outbreak of Avian influenza in the Netherlands as reported by RIjksoverheld, the national website of the Dutch government.
Dutch authorities, according to Politico, a foreign news source, “announced a cull of 35,700 broiler chickens after an outbreak of a highly contagious strain of bird flu at a poultry farm in the eastern village of Altforst.”
The report said animals were also being examined for Avian flu in nine other poultry farms within a three-kilometer radius of the affected estate and that a transport ban was imposed in a 10-kilometer zone. The embargo covers poultry, eggs, poultry manure and used bedding and other animals and animal products from poultry farms.
The Netherlands is the biggest supplier of poultry products to the Philippines, followed by Brazil, which also had its exports banned by DA because of the reported presence of COVID-19 particles in shipments exports to China and the US.
“The feed milling industry believes that the health and safety of our citizens must never be compromised especially at this time that the country is coping with the challenges of the Covid19 pandemic and the economic difficulties resulting from the worldwide pandemic and the recent typhoons that have wreaked havoc on the country’s agriculture and industries,” said PAFMI executive director Ric Pinca.
The group also called on industry players and consumers to continue to cooperate with the DA in its efforts to prop up and spur agricultural production in the aftermath of the destruction brought about by Typhoon Rolly.
Rolly, the strongest typhoon this year, displaced 372,381 people and left 53,863 homes without electricity. Prior to Rolly, Typhoon Quinta hit the Philippines and left with billions worth of damaged crops.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the agriculture sector lost nearly P5 billion from the two typhoons.
Pinca said the agriculture sector was the country’s most promising sector in 2020 despite the pandemic until the two typhoons caused severe damage.
The timely weather advisories enabled the farmers to save P7.66 billion worth of rice products and P1.31 billion worth of corn from Typhoon Quinta and P16.99 billion worth of rice and P579 million worth of corn from Typhoon Rolly.
