DA official says gov't trying to address rising price of eggs
The government is implementing interventions to address the increasing price of eggs as an agricultural partylist representative confirmed a looming shortage.
"The price adjustment in eggs is caused by the movement of the production cost so we see the intervention. We need to prioritize the lowering of production cost to lessen the price up to the retail market," Agriculture Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista said in a radio interview on Wednesday.
"If the cost of production really has to be addressed. We need to help our producers to lower the cost of their production and if we are successful in doing that we will produce more," she added.
The DA price monitor says eggs cost P6.50 but some retail outlets sell these a bit higher.
Evangelista said the government also launched programs to help egg farmers which includes the "Kadiwa store" and direct selling by cooperatives to the retailers.
"We will mobilize Kadiwa so that our consumers will have access to affordable eggs. The price of eggs there is around seven pesos so this will be in coordination with the local government unit... If the market masters will allow our cooperative to sell directly to the retailers, it is one of the directions that we are looking at. This is for the wet market, and we are also looking at Kadiwa on Wheels," she said.
"If the cost of transportation is adding to the cost of the retail price of our eggs then we will come in to at least lessen the price and at the same time in production level, we will focus on bringing down also the cost of production," she added.
In another radio interview, Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines Inc. Rep. Nicanor Briones said there is an insufficient supply of eggs.
Briones explained that many poultry farms stopped their operation while others reduced their production after they incurred losses in the past 14 months since May 2021 when the country experienced an oversupply of eggs after former Agriculture Secretary William Dar allowed the importation of breeders.
He said the presence of bird flu and the insufficient supply of corn in the country also affected the price of eggs.
"We also have bird flu, it should be stopped. If not, the price of eggs in retail will really reach 12 (pesos) to 15 (pesos) by next year. The price of eggs also increased because of the increase in the price of corn, 50 percent of the feed is corn, before it was just 14 to 15 pesos per kilo now it is 22 to 23 per kilo," said Briones.
"Maybe next year we still cannot have enough supply of eggs. We cannot import eggs because eggs will rot if you put them in a freezer," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
