Concepcion aired this warning following yesterday's hearing of the Senate trade and industry committee, chaired by former trade secretary and now Sen. Manuel Roxas II. Hog farmers and chicken growers had revealed that they are "depopulating their stocks".

During the hearing, the National Federation of Hog Farmers and the United Broiler Raisers Association complained about the low farm-gate prices of hogs and chickens.

The hog farmers said they are losing money due to the drop in farm-gate prices of hogs from P75 to P55 a kilo. They have since started to depopulate their stocks.

The farmers had wondered why the price of pork at the wet market remains at P120 per kilo and shows no signs of falling.

With the plunge in chicken farm-gate prices from the previous range of P54 to P56 per kilo - which is already below their production cost of P60 per kilo - to P40 per kilo, the chicken growers have also begun to depopulate their stocks.

In order to prevent a repeat of last year's shortage in chicken and pork, Roxas requested the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry to define the role each department will play to address the gap between farm-gate and retail prices for the 2 types of meat.

Source: eFeedLink - 5th October 2004