3Q chicken production in Eastern Visayas grows by 18.1%

By PSA-8
December 7, 2018

TACLOBAN CITY – The chicken industry in Eastern Visayas posted 18.1% increase in production during the third quarter of 2018. Based on the preliminary data, the total chicken production in the region went up to 14,280 metric tons (MT) in the third quarter of 2018 from 12,092 MT in the same quarter last year.

Region VIII accounted for 3.3 percent of the country’s total chicken production during the third quarter of 2018. It ranked seventh among the regions with low chicken production in the country.

Meanwhile, as of 1 October 2018, the total chicken population in Eastern Visayas stood at 3,268,844 birds. This registered a decrease of 2.9% from its 3,365,703 inventory as of 1 October 2017.

Among provinces, Leyte recorded the highest number of chicken at 1,695,155 birds, which comprised more than half or 51.8% of the total chicken population in the region. Samar ranked second with 555,440 birds, which accounted for 17.0% of the region’s total chicken inventory. Eastern Samar, meanwhile, registered the lowest inventory of chicken with 3.9% share or 128,157birds.

By type, layer chickens stood at 464,849 birds as of 1 October 2018. This posted a significant growth of 24.0% from the 374,853 inventory as of 1 October 2017. All provinces registered increases except for Leyte, which recorded a decrease of 5.1%, and Eastern Samar, which had the same inventory of 5,000 birds from 1 October 2017. Southern Leyte posted the highest increase at 77.4%, from 55,013 birds as of 1 October 2017to 97,586 birds as of 1 October 2018.

On the other hand, broiler chickens decreased by 11.0%, from 1,201,372 birds as of 1 October 2017 to 1,068,950 birds as of 1 October 2018. All provinces registered decreases except for Biliran, which recorded an increase of 208.0%, and Eastern Samar, which had the same inventory of 1,000 birds in 1 October 2017. Southern Leyte posted the highest decrease at 81.4%, from 73,962 birds as of 1 October 2017 to 13,780 birds as of 1 October 2018.

Similarly, the number of native/improved chicken went down by 3.0% with a total inventory of 1,735,045 birds as of 1 October 2018 from 1,789,478 birds as of 1 October 2017. All provinces registered decreases except for Eastern Samar, which recorded an increase of 1.2%. Southern Leyte registered the highest decrease at 5.7%, from 325,804 birds as of 1 October 2017 to 307,234 birds as of 1 October 2018.

More than half or 53.1% of the total chicken population in the region were native/improved chickens. Broiler chickens accounted for 32.7%, while the remaining 14.2% were layer chickens.