ILOILO City – The P30-billion poultry industry of Western Visayas is doing well and there is enough supply of chicken in the region, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6 amid the threat posed by bird flu.
“Wala kita problema sa manok. Kita ang No. 1 sa native chicken (production),” said DA director Remelyn Recoter even if three provinces recently closed their boarders to outside poultry and poultry products as a preemptive measure against avian influenza.
Bird flu is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds. There are different strains of the bird flu virus. One, the H5N1 strain, has been detected in duck and quail farms in Bulacan and Pampanga provinces, respectively, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Tarlac, Sultan Kudarat, and Benguet.
Gov. Rhodora Cadiao of Antique released Executive Order (EO) 23 on March 29 on the “temporary total ban on the entry of all live domestic and wild birds and poultry products and byproducts including its meat, day-old chicks, eggs, semen, and manure from other regions. The ban is until April 29.
Negros Occidental’s Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, on the other hand, issued EO No. 22-10 series of 2002 extending the temporarily ban on the same products from Luzon and other areas with H5N1 virus from March 15 until April 15.
In Aklan, meanwhile, Gov. Florencio Miraflores issued EO No. 12 on March 2 for a 30-day ban on the entry of all poultry products including eggs, poultry meat, manure and semen from all regions.
The DA is leaving it to local government units to decide what precautionary measures to take against the possible entry of avian influenza in their areas such as banning fowls from bird flu-hit areas, said Recoter.
DA secretary William Dar who was in Iloilo on Thursday said the department is strengthening quarantine protocols.
“We have to double our efforts in controlling and containing bird flu, and we can accomplish this through cooperation especially from those engaged in poultry production,” said Dar.
Earlier, the DA issued Memorandum Circular No. 5 prescribing “guidelines on the local movement of domestic and wild birds and poultry products and by-products during the avian Influenza surveillance period.”
The policy regulates the movement of ducks, quails, chicken and other poultry commodities in affected areas, particularly those from within the one-kilometer quarantine area.
“Farm owners must comply with the transport requirements in compliance with the prescribed surveillance period, diagnostic tests, and biosecurity protocol of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This is to mitigate animal and public health risks posed by the virus,” said Dr. Reildrin Morales, director of DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry.
DA also issued Memorandum Circular No. 6 Series of 2022 prescribing “guidelines on the movement of domestic and captured wild (ornamental) birds and poultry products and by-products during the avian influenza outbreak.”/PN
