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PVO income down 52% amid Covid

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BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III

The Provincial Veterinary Office’s revenue collection dropped by 52.76 percent last year compared to 2019 due to the ongoing pandemic.

Provincial veterinarian Renante Decena said their revenue collection in 2019 was P7.1 million while they had only P3.1 million last year.

Decena said their revenue collection comes from various animal health services that include veterinary inspection and various animal health and laboratory fees, farm registrations and licensing, among others.

He said gamefowl shipment in Negros Occidental also dropped by 74.2 percent last year with only 88,360 gamefowl shipped while there were 343,621 in 2019.

The decrease is attributed to the prohibition of cock fighting activities throughout the country during the implementation of community quarantines and the cancellation of gamefowl expositions that are usually scheduled annually, he said.

Decena also said the decrease could have been triggered by the limited number of flights to and from Negros Occidental.

HOG SHIPMENT UP

Meanwhile, hog shipment outside the province increased by 46.2 percent last year with a total of 28,214 heads compared to 15,185 heads in 2019.

Decena said the devastating effect of the ASF outbreaks in Luzon resulted in a huge storage of pork supply in the area and increasing the price to almost double, from 220 per kilogram to 400 per kilo gram.

This opened up new market opportunities for the province local swine raisers to supply slaughtered hogs to Luzon and earn more because of the higher prices offered by traders from Luzon with a standing memorandum of agreement for continuous trade, he said.

Decena said Negros Occidental has maintained its status as one of the few provinces in the country that remain free from African swine fever.

The consolidated apprehension report last year showed that a total of 12.65 tons of assorted pork products, worth P5.5 million, have been apprehended in ports, airport, and checkpoints in different areas of the province.

The Provincial ASF Task Force has also conducted inspection and monitoring of supermarkets, grocery stores, and online sellers of frozen meat products in the past week.

INSPECTIONS

A total of 244 establishments were inspected to ensure compliance with the ASF Prevention Ordinance of Negros Occidental.

Last year, the quarantine team established disinfection stations for livestock transport carriers and hog vans at Bredco and Escalante ports that serve as main routes for shipments of live hogs to Luzon.

A total of 131,749 incoming vehicles and refrigerated container vans have been inspected at different ports of entry of the province in 2020. All products allowed to enter the province were properly inspected and found to have complete documents, the report added. Decena said they will sustain efforts in keeping Negros Occidental ASF-free and adopt a pro-active animal health biosecurity measures among livestock and poultry stakeholders to cope with the economic downside brought about by the Covid pandemic.*

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