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BACOLOD City – After lifting the ban on the shipment of birds and their products, the Department of Agriculture (DA) told the public it’s safe to eat them.
The DA in Negros Occidental proved this by having a “boodle fight” with their personnel, farmers and poultry farm owners.
They ate chicken dishes and hard-boiled eggs along with rice, tomatoes and bananas.
DA-Negros Island Region director Joyce Wendam said Negros Occidental is free from the bird flu virus.
DA Administrative Order No. 08 lifted the ban on the movement of live birds and poultry products including meat and eggs from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao on Aug. 22.
The outbreak in Luzon has caused the drop in chicken consumption in the province, Wendam said.
“It also manifested a slight decrease in the prices of poultry products,” she added.
Wendam urged Negrenses to help sustain the poultry sector by consuming products amid “pressing industry challenges.”
“The poultry industry has a vital role in the province’s economy,” said Wendam.
Negros Occidental leads in supplying native chicken in the country with a 5.13-million production last year.
On the other hand, Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena wanted to extend the shipment ban. “It is too soon,” he said.
A letter requesting a one-month ban extension was sent to the DA central office in Quezon City by the Office of the Vice Governor on Aug. 24, Decena added.
The request for extension was supported by the Negros Breeders Association and the Game Fowl Breeders Association of Negros.
They said the transport of game fowls amid the bird flu scare may affect the national cockfighting derbies in September.
Game fowl is the second largest industry in the province, next to sugar. (PNA)
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