BACOLOD CITY — The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) of Negros Occidental is planning to establish a PHP50 million dressing plant to benefit mainly backyard poultry growers.
Dr. Renante Decena, head of PVO, said most of the dressed chicken products in this city which are sourced from other local government units (LGUs) in the province do not pass through dressing plants.
This is why the provincial government has been working on providing post-harvest facilities to local poultry integrators, he said.
“We will meet with poultry integrators on Monday to finalize the proposed establishment of dressing plant, which is subject to the approval of the governor,” Decena said, adding that the construction of the facility is targeted to start next year.
The PHP50 million worth of dressing plant includes the building component as well as equipment like cold storage, ice maker, and trucks.
It will be situated at the Capitol-owned property beside the rice processing center at Barangay Tabunan in Bago City.
Decena said the facility is centrally located for commercial farms operating in the province. Once operational, the dressing plant will cater mainly to integrators who can qualify as backyard scale producers.
Their production should be lower than those of commercial growers, whose minimum production is 3,000 to 5,000 heads.
Under the project, the province will gather 10 small raisers in every barangay with production of 200 heads each. Thus, each barangay will have a backyard production of 2,000 heads.
Through this scheme, it would be easy to collect, harvest and provide inputs to the farmer-raisers, Decena said.
He said the return on investment would also be faster, and biosecurity can be ensured as there is only small number of farmers involved.
Currently, there are only three licensed dressing plants in Negros Occidental which cannot yet fully cater to the entire local poultry business. (PNA)
