With El Niño: DA-7 warns of less meat production

CEBU, Philippines - With the onset of El Niño and its effect to animals, the Department of Agriculture-7 has warned of less meat production in the region.

 DA-7 senior agriculturist Fulgencio Ugay said it is not a remote possibility that there would be less production of meat due to animals dying of heatstroke owing to the dry season.

 “Posible g’yud na mahitabo kay tungod sa kainit ma-heat stroke ang atong mga kahayupan,” said Ugay during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.

To prepare for the El Niño, DA is encouraging farmers to stock food for their livestock through food preservation dubbed as “silage.”

Silage is a kind of food preservation that consists of mostly grass as animal feeds.

 “This kind of food process, dugay g’yud malata ang pagkaon sa atong mga kahayupan. Mo-last ni siya up to one year,” Ugay said.

El Niño also affects the fertility of animals, said Ugay.

To counter this, the DA-7 head said they resorted to artificial insemination for pigs, carabaos and goats.

  According to the weather bureau, a strong El Niño condition is now in progress in the tropical Pacific Ocean. This may reportedly last until April-May-June of 2016.

PAGASA has advised all concerned agencies to take precautionary and intervention measures to mitigate El Niño’s adverse impacts.  (FREEMAN)