THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will expand its Protein-Enriched Copra Meal (PECM) commercialization project to the Western Visayas to boost livestock production there.
The PECM, initially rolled out in Regions IV A and 9, is aimed at mitigating the rising costs of animal feed by using copra meal, a by-product of coconut farming, as a substitute for imported soybean meal.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said that the expansion of the project will help farmers and feed producers in the region who are facing rising prices of traditional feed ingredients.
“The program not only helps reduce feed costs but also supports the local economy by creating new markets for coconut by-products, which are often underutilized,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Developed by the University of the Philippines-Los Baños Biotech Center employing a solid-state fermentation process, the PECM enhances copra meal’s protein content to 45%, bring it up to par with soybean meal.
According to the DA, feeding trials of the enriched copra meal, which include 200 kilos of PECM per ton of finfish feed and 100 kilos per ton of shrimp feed, returned a 3.9% and 0.4% reduction in feed costs compared to conventional commercial feed.
PECM was launched in 2022 to address supply disruptions caused by the pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war.
“While COVID-19 has passed, the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to disrupt global feed ingredient supply chains, keeping prices for essential commodities like soybean meal, feed wheat, and corn elevated,” DA said.
“Russia and Ukraine together account for about 30% of global feed grain supply, further exacerbating the pressure on feed prices,” it added.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that hog production in the Western Visayas dropped 23% to 158,471 metric tons (MT) in 2023.
Meanwhile, carabao production in the region increased 3.9% to 17,159 MT, cattle production flat at 19,007 MT, and goat production rose 11% to 7,105 MT.
In 2023, duck production in the region decreased 1.9% to 2,722 MT, and duck egg production fell 5.4% to 4,306 MT.
Chicken production in the Western Visayas last year increased 4.8% to 131,926 MT, while chicken egg output rose by 7.9% to 40,015 MT.
“By expanding the copra meal initiative, the DA aims to strengthen food security, improve local feed production, and promote more efficient use of agricultural by-products in livestock farming,” it said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
