PH overall food supply sufficient until yearend: DA

The DA also tackled that the pork supply took a dip forecasting a seven-day deficit for December 2020. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA – The country has enough food supply until yearend despite the series of typhoons that affected agricultural areas, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday.

DA Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan, who represented the agency in the weekly discussion of offices in the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said in a virtual presser there is continuous food productivity and price stability in the market.

“Bagamat dinaanan po tayo ng malalakas na bagyo noong Oktubre at Nobyembre, sapat po ang supply natin (Though we’ve experienced strong typhoons in October and November, our [food] supply is enough),” he said.

Cayanan presented data from the Rice Supply Outlook that showed a projection that the country’s food supply would last for more than 80 days or almost three months after 2020.

“May 85 to 88 days pa po tayo pag [tapos] nitong taon na ito which is good kasi nagsisimula na ang dry season [season for planting], aani na po tayo sa katapusan ng Pebrero (According to our projections, we still have 85 to 88 days after this year ends. This is good because the dry season has already started and we are expecting to harvest by end of February),” Cayanan said.

The DA also tackled that the pork supply took a dip forecasting a seven-day deficit for December 2020.

Agriculture Undersecretary for livestock William Medrano earlier said there is usually a contraction of supply on agricultural commodities, which results in higher prices of goods toward the end of the year.

Pork products, particularly ham, are among the most consumed during the period.

Meanwhile, the Broiler Supply Outlook of the DA saw a significant projection with an 86-day forecast of supply of poultry products to last after the end of 2020.

“Manageable po ang supply, maitatawid tayo (The supply is manageable),” Cayanan said.

The fishery sector, on the other hand, reflected low output due to closed fishing season orders but the latest data showed no negative projection on fish supply.

He also noted the price hike on several vegetable produce due to low supply after the typhoons devastated farmlands yielding common crops such as chili, onion, and garlic.