DA confirms eggs overpriced

A worker at Marikina Public market sort trays off egg by size last January 24 2023. Photos by John Orven Verdote

By Bella Cariaso, Manila Times

AN official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday said the eggs sold in Metro Manila markets are overpriced by at least P1.50 per piece.

In an interview with The Manila Times, Agriculture deputy spokesman Rex Estoperez said that based on his inspection in Mindoro Occidental, the retail price of eggs only rose by 50 centavos per piece. The province gets its eggs from Batangas, which also supplies Metro Manila.

"The egg producers have been saying the farmgate price is stable. Metro Manila and Occidental Mindoro both source their egg supply from Batangas. It seems that the problem is in between as when eggs are transported to Mindoro, they only cause an additional 50 centavos. In Metro Manila, from Batangas, the added cost is P1.50, P2 to P2.50 [per piece]," he said.

Estoperez noted the big disparity in the farm gate price and retail price in the National Capital Region.

"No less than the President said that the traders should only increase the farm gate price of eggs between three and five percent," Estoperez said, referring to the directive of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to the DA to find out what was causing the spike in the retail prices of eggs.

Estoperez said that during his meeting with Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Inspectorate and Enforcement James Layug and Assistant Secretary and spokesman Kristine Evangelista, they agreed to discuss with the different market masters tapping the local government units (LGUs) for monitoring egg prices.

"We will look into the cost structure as the retail price of eggs is unreasonable," he said.

Estoperez said that personally, he is against imposing a suggested retail price on eggs, "but if traders fail to comply, there should be a penalty."

Estoperez said that because of a shortage of eggs in Mindoro, when the province orders 200 trays, only 100 trays will arrive.

"The LGU said it is okay for them if there is no oversupply of eggs in the province. What is important is that the stocks arrive regularly," he said.

On Wednesday, DA officials led by Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban met with the egg producers to comply with the President's directive to address the rising prices of eggs.

In a radio interview, Batangas Egg Producers Cooperative managing director Cecille Virtucio said the DA vowed to address the biosecurity problem, particularly in Central Luzon, where nine million chickens were culled following an outbreak of avian influenza.

"During the meeting, it was clear that the cause of the increase in the prices of eggs was due to the bird flu that hit Central Luzon. The Philippines was affected by avian influenza, particularly Central Luzon, where at least eight to nine million chickens were culled. This was confirmed by a cooperative in Minalin, Pampanga. Central Luzon is the next egg basket and as of now there is no production after egg producers were affected by bird flu in June to July 2022," Virtucio said.

Batangas is the country's biggest egg producer.

Virtucio said egg producers in Central Luzon cannot afford to implement biosecurity measures, the DA officials vowed to talk to financial institutions like Land Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines to help implement a program to repopulate the poultry industry and improve biosecurity.

He said the producers plan to bring their eggs directly to the DA's Kadiwa centers to do away with middlemen.

"Many of our farmers supply directly to their clients in Manila but many egg producers still have no means to transport their produce so they still rely on the traders to deliver to the markets in Metro Manila," Virtucio said.

The producers are also burdened by the high cost of feeds.

"We all know that big components of feeds are imported like soya. Even the cost of corn is increasing," Virtucio said.

She said the DA and egg producers will also meet with retailers to find ways to bring down egg prices.

Virtucio said the producers are also asking the DA for financial help.

"It is very difficult for egg producers to bounce back if they do not have capital. That's one of our requests to the government to normalize egg production," she said.

Seafood consumption of Filipinos decline

By Bella Cariaso, Manila Times

THE seafood consumption of Filipinos has declined over the years, a study showed, with poor families consuming the least.

The study revealed that the quantity of fresh fish consumed increased with the level of wealth, while the amount of processed fish consumed generally declined as wealth increased.

Based on the findings, the poorest Filipinos consumed at least 179.7 grams of fresh fish; the poor, 210.9 grams; middle income, 239.4 grams; the rich, 258.3 grams; and the richest, 287.1 grams.

The study conducted by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Institute (DoST-FNRI) and commissioned by fishers' group Oceana showed that the daily protein intake of many Filipinos is only 94 grams per person, down from the 113 grams per person in 1982.

The study revealed that only 55.1 percent of households meet the recommended protein intake.

"The gap is even more stark among individual population groups that are in dire need of this nutritional intake. Only 17.1 percent among pregnant women, 19.1 percent among lactating mothers and 27.2 percent among the elderly are meeting the recommended intake," the agency said.

"Fish and seafoods are the main source of good quality protein for Filipinos, thus, availability and accessibility must be ensured. If the situation persists and left unattended, this may result in higher medical costs for the management of illnesses as a resultant factor of nutrient inadequacy," DoST-FNRI Director Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa said.

The Cordillera Administrative Region and the National Capital Region consumed the least fresh fish per day, while Zamboanga Peninsula or Region 9 consumed the highest proportion of fresh fish per day.

Oceana Vice President Gloria Estenzo Ramos said that restoring the ocean could feed people a healthy seafood meal a day.

"Our fisheries support communities and, in fact, the Philippines ranks second in the world with a population highly dependent on healthy and vibrant oceans for nutrition, livelihood, and coastal protection. But we need to be vigilant in ensuring that the human-induced pressures on our ocean which caused an alarming decline of fish population, such as rampant illegal fishing in our municipal waters and continuing destruction of marine habitats, are stopped," Ramos said.

The study found that fish from aquaculture like tilapia and bangus (milkfish) offer less nutrients such as protein and iron per serving compared to a diverse option of pelagic species like galunggong (round scad), matambaka (big-eyed scad) and tuna.

Tilapia and bangus are the commonly consumed fish by Filipinos, comprising 26 percent of total seafood consumption per individual.

"The findings should fire us up to restore the once-deep seated relationship that we had with our ocean and make it the wellspring of health, livelihood, and well-being of our people. Let's learn from some of our local government champions who have set the standards high for nutrition, wellness and ecological integrity as priority programs for their constituents," Ramos said.

Farmers' group warns of rice shortage in 2023

By Bella Cariaso

September 30, 2022

A FARMERS' group on Thursday warned of a possible shortage in the rice supply in 2023 amid the devastation of Super Typhoon "Karding," and the decline in the palay output due to the high cost of agriculture inputs.

In a radio interview, Federation of Free Farmers National Manager Raul Montemayor said that the damage from the super typhoon could reach P4 billion to P5 billion.

"The damage of Karding is between 5 to 10 percent of the country's rice total production. The estimate of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is about P2 billion. But this is expected to double, since it has yet to assess all the affected areas, so we're looking at around P4 to P5 billion," Montemayor said.

While the rice supply is stable until the end of 2022, the buffer stock will be depleted by 2023, he said.

"Our worry is the supply for next year, the excess from 2022 will be limited. The government needs to work double time to increase the production to lessen our dependence on rice imports, which is very expensive," Montemayor added, referring to the peso devaluation.

According to Montemayor, prior to the onslaught of Karding, the farmers were already affected by the high prices of farm inputs.

"Based on the estimate of the DA, the rice output will decline by 1 million metric tons of palay as farmers did not use enough fertilizers and pesticides because of the high cost. Others decided to limit the number of hectares they planted," he noted.

Montemayor said that the DA should immediately release the assistance to the farmers to start planting again.

He expects an increase in the retail price of imported rice between P3 to P4 per kilo amid the high dollar rate.

Air pollution worse in Metro Manila

COVERED IN HAZE Smog blankets parts of Metro Manila as seen from a spot in Antipolo City on June 29 2021. Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum said the haze is caused by pollution from vehicles and not from Taal Volcano, which has been emitting thick smoke as high as three-kilometers from its main crater over the last few days. FILE PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE

By Bella Cariaso, Manila Times

Air pollution in Metro Manila has worsened with the opening of businesses, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Friday.

The DENR's Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director William Cuñado said that during the implementation of Covid-19 restrictions, all the monitoring stations in the National Capital Region (NCR) registered green which meant good air quality.

Because of the lockdowns, only 10 percent or 35,000 of the 350,000 vehicles in the NCR were allowed to operate.

"During the pandemic, there was a reduction of 90 percent in volume of the vehicles plying within Metro Manila. Because of this, there was a dramatic reduction on air pollutants. There was a good quality of air because of the small volume of vehicles. Almost all the stations had green color, meaning to say, that we had good quality of air within Metro Manila," Cuñado said.

However, as pandemic restrictions eased, a gradual change in the air quality was noticed.

"Now that the vehicles allowed outside are almost the same compared to the volume we have prior to the pandemic, from green, we have monitored yellow or even orange colors," Cuñado said.

Yellow signifies fair air quality while orange means air quality can be unhealthy for sensitive groups such as those with respiratory problems like asthma.

"The air pollution could aggravate their ailments," Cuñado said.

He added that air pollution is high during heavy traffic in a particular area.

"This is the accumulation of gases discharged in a certain area, especially if there is a high concentration of people that are moving and there is heavy traffic. There is an increase in the particulate matters and other substances," the official said.