BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
A second simultaneous relief operation, this time for livestock growers in the 4th District of Negros Occidental, was conducted by the Provincial Veterinary Office recently.
Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena said this is to help the livestock growers recover from their losses of about P301,000, due to the prevailing cold weather.
Decena said the relief operation included treatment, consultation, deworming, vitamin B supplementation of pets and livestock animals, vaccination, distribution of veterinary drugs, medicines and biologics, as well as IEC materials on raising livestock during the rainy season.
He said his office, with the help of the Provincial Veterinary District Field Unit in District IV, also dispersed 300 free-range chickens to replenish the stocks of the beneficiaries.
Decena added they deployed veterinarians and technical personnel to barangays Alijis and Bayabas in the municipality of Valladolid, Tabao Rizal and Baliwagan in San Enrique, and Antipolo, Sitio Camingawan and Cambarus in Pontevedra.
Some 117 livestock growers benefited from the relief operation in Valladolid, while 106 and 102 clients were served in San Enrique and Pontevedra, respectively.
The relief operation is part of PVO’s interventions in response to mitigation and recovery efforts intended for the affected poultry and livestock growers to enable them to recover and perform optimum level of productivity and also to prevent a possible disease outbreak.
HOG SHIPMENT ON
Meanwhile, Decena clarified that the province is still shipping out hogs to Manila.
He said Negros Occidental remains as one of the top exporters of hogs to Manila and other parts of Luzon, with 30,000 hogs shipped out monthly.
Among the provinces being supplied are Bulacan, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Cavite, and Cordillera in Luzon, and Iloilo, Cebu, and Leyte in the Visayas. In January alone, 6,000 hogs had been shipped out by the province, mostly from backyard raisers, he added.*
