THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured there will be adequate supply of fresh fish in the market amid the extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in parts of Luzon until May 15.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar cited projections of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) which show that by end-June, the country will have an 11-day surplus equivalent to 101,792 metric tons (MT) with a supply of 934,920 MT exceeding the demand of 833,128 MT by 12.2 percent.
“With the lifting of the closed fishing season in major fishing areas in the country and the peak of fishing activities during the second quarter, we have enough supply of fresh fish in the market,” said Dar.
Glen Pangapalan, Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) general manager, said in a report to the DA the agency has facilitated the unloading of 71,025 MT of fish or an average of 2,088 MT daily since the implementation of the ECQ.
By yearend, fish supply is expected to reach 3,349,424 MT, slightly exceeding the demand of 3,332,510 MT, on top of the total fish supply for January 2021.
“Adequate fishing ports and postharvest facilities are critical to the full development of the sector. Currently, we have nine regional fish ports in the country — Navotas, Lucena, Sual, Camaligan, Bulan, Iloilo, General Santos, Zamboanga and Davao and all of them are continuously operating to meet our demand,” Pangapalan said.
The PFDA also mentioned that all fishports it manages nationwide are assured of unhampered operations, particularly the Navotas Fish Port Complex that supplies around 70 percent of fish demand in Metro Manila as well as neighboring areas in Luzon.
“The other good news is that the wholesale prices of popular fish species like bangus, tilapia, galunggong, yellowfin tuna and matambaka at all PFDA regional fish ports have remained stable compared to other commercial species during the quarantine period,” Pangapalan said.
Meanwhile, Noel Reyes, DA spokesman, has reiterated during the virtual briefing yesterday the DA’s call to the public for a temporary shift in demand from pork to other protein sources, as the country expects a 31-day deficit by yearend for the said meat.
Reyes cited data from the National Meat Inspection Service showing Luzon produces 50 percent of the country’s entire pork demand and that supply from Visayas and Mindanao are responsible for stabilizing prices.
However, when asked for the pork demand profile of the three regions, he only mentioned that Luzon has the biggest demand for pork while Visayas and Mindanao have smaller demands.
“We will have a demand of 1.2 million MT by yearend but we will only have a supply of 1.1 million MT, so that is the cause of the 31-day deficit but we are already doing efforts to fill that gap and we are also encouraging consumers to shift to other protein sources especially that chicken has a supply of more than 200 days for the said period,” Reyes said.
The DA also said areas that were previously affected by the African Swine Fever (ASF) can be re-allowed to raise hogs provided that the local government unit can testify that no case of the disease has been recorded for at least three months.
As of April 27, eight regions, 25 provinces, 210 cities and 876 barangays in the country have been affected by the ASF which led to the culling of more than 280,000 hogs out of the 12 million hog population in the country.
