IN GRILLED chicken-loving Davao City, there is a shortage of broiler supply that is expected to worsen, not because of a bird flu outbreak but due to residential developments edging out poultry farms in districts outside the metro area.

“Most of the land developers are going to Calinan and Tugbok areas, they are buying the lands around us so now if they are near our poultry, we are being closed down because of that. Even if we want to solve the deficit, we cannot because of the expansion problem regarding zoning,” Lalaine A. dela Victoria, president of the Davao Poultry and Egg Producers Inc., told the media.

The group is calling on the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) and the local council to reassess zoning and conversion plans.

Ms. Dela Victoria said they are suggesting that the CPDO assign poultry farm areas and specify these in the city’s geo-map. The city council, on the other hand, could pass a resolution that would encourage socialized housing developers to pursue vertical projects rather than horizontal tenements.

These clear policies, she pointed out, should then guide property developers as well as the poultry-egg producers, who have been looking at establishing a “food corridor” in the Calinan and Tugbok areas.

“But of course we cannot do that alone, we have to get the permission of the council for that to be established. Another big problem is most of the land developers are lobbying that those areas (Calinan and Tugbo) be converted into residential areas,” she said.

Data from the Department of Agriculture-Davao show Davao City alone had a production of 32 million birds in 2016.

Ms. Dela Victoria said a small portion of the total output is sent to Cotabato, but it is mostly sold to the local market, where demand is still higher than supply.

Davao City’s population was about 1.5 million as of 2010.

“For export, Davao City has minimal contribution. Some of our chicken goes to Cotabato province… because there is no dressing plant there so we provide our broiler chickens,” she said.

The poultry group estimates a supply deficit in Davao City of about 20 million birds annually by 2018.

Ms. Dela Victoria said there are about 60 poultry farmers in Davao City, 50% of whom are small growers, or those producing 10,000 to 50,000 birds a year. The other half is composed of big growers with a capacity for 200,000 to 300,00 birds annually.

The number of poultry farmers has not been increasing recently, she said, while the existing ones have not been expanding due to fears of being closed down when real-estate developers come in.

“Supposedly there is planning where an agricultural community, the villages or commercial areas will be assigned in a certain zone,” Ms. Dela Victoria said. — Maya M. Padillo

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