CPLFC urges DA to profile cost structures in Phl poultry, livestock

DA Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Edilberto De Luna, CPLFC Chairperson Rufina Salas, DA Undersecretary for Livestock Jose Reaño and PCAF Exec. Director Ariel Cayanan lead the CPLFC meeting on January 27.

With the Philippines set to further strengthen relations and liberalize trade with its neighboring countries, there is a need to establish the price and cost competitiveness of the poultry and livestock subsectors’ production.

This was stressed by the members of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) Committee on Poultry, Livestock and Feed Crops (CPLFC) in a meeting on January 27, 2014.

“In determining how the subsector compares with its ASEAN counterparts, its costs of production such as input supply, transport costs, government taxes, and transaction costs including subsidies, should be profiled and analyzed,” the CPLFC said in a resolution passed during the meeting.

Thus, the committee, through the said resolution, urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to conduct profiling of cost structures in the country’s poultry and livestock subsectors.

The committee explained that benchmarking initiatives will highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the poultry and livestock subsectors, which will be useful in deciding on an overall plan to boost its opportunities in the local and international markets.

CPLFC members agreed that the results of these efforts will also enable the government to identify the areas where it could concentrate its support measures for the poultry and livestock subsectors.

The said meeting was held to give way for the presentation and discussion of poultry and livestock issues that were raised during the area-wide orientations on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) held by the DA in partnership with PCAF.

CPLFC members emphasized that the competitiveness of Philippine poultry and livestock in the ASEAN market is also a priority and its stability should be ensured so that it can continue to contribute to the country’s economy.

For more than 20 years, the poultry and livestock subsectors have been key drivers of Philippine agriculture, having contributed as high as 44% to the country’s total agricultural growth and serving as main sources of income and livelihood for many Filipinos.

However, the CPLFC noted the decline of the said subsectors to about 18% from 2000 to 2010, further underscoring the need to give more attention to their development, especially with the approaching AEC in 2015.

Also see: http://nafc.da.gov.ph/NAFCNEWs/2014/cplfc.html