BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The adverse effects of the recent super typhoon “Odette” to the supply of dressed chicken in Negros Occidental would likely be felt soon.
According to provincial government veterinarian Dr. Renante Decena, Negros Occidental’s chicken industry was badly hit. An estimated one million chickens were believed to have died due to the typhoon.
Damage to the province’s chicken industry was pegged at P275,086,000.
The losses included not only the chickens but also their housing facilities and their feeds.
The most heavily damaged is the province’s broiler industry or 45-day-old chickens.
Decena said the poultry farm of the Provincial Livestock Breeding Center and Dairy Farms in Barangay La Granja, La Carlota City was destroyed. Losses were estimated to have reached P10 million.
Decena expressed sympathy to local chicken raisers.
So far, his office has counted 278 farms incurring damages due to the typhoon, with three local integrators suffering the most as their establishments have reportedly collapsed./PN
