In a recent article, we discussed the extensive use of antibiotics in the poultry farming industry and in other forms of animal husbandry in the Philippines. This blog post is a continuation of the conversation on that topic.
According to the Philippines Department of Health, 80% of Filipinos are already suffering from antibiotic resistance and requiring more powerful doses of antibiotics to treat common ailments. A lot of these is due to the ingestion of human antibiotics passed down the food chain from poultry and hogs and as we have said before, this is a potentially dangerous development. It could spell a serious health crisis in the future yet it is avoidable through ethical poultry farming techniques.
At the same, there is already a strong drive to eliminate these antibiotics from the animal husbandry or at the very least, minimize their usage especially in flocks that are raised primarily for the meat.
One sector that is fast gaining currency and which is contributing towards combating indiscriminate antibiotic usage is the rise of free range chicken farming and organic poultry farming in the Philippines.
While some of the bigger commercial integrators are still focused on commercial poultry production that condones extensive antibiotic usage, there are plenty of large farms in the Philippines that are also embracing ethical poultry production. One example of this is the Pamora Farm.
The company has adopted an approach that has grown popularity in the recent years in many mature poultry markets. It produces free range chickens ethically and under more humane conditions which limits the use of antibiotics in the poultry unless absolutely necessary. The company raises its chickens without antibiotics or any other form of chemicals or hormones and the chickens take longer to mature, typically getting slaughtered when they are 81 days later.
This is in sharp contrast to broilers in the Philippines that mature within 32 days. There are many advantages associated with raising chickens over a longer duration of time beyond the humane or ethical reasons. This is especially true if the chickens are also raised in a clean free range environment where you provide quality feeding supplemented with some clean and healthy pasture.
The Pamora Farm has been raising its chickens this for almost two decades, the farm having began operating in the year 2000. The company specializes in producing broilers and dressed free range chickens. Today, it has increased its monthly capacity to up to 3000 broilers and it has been busy expanding capacity thanks to the increased demand for its tasty free range meat. The Pamora Farm is fully integrated and handles all processes including growing free range chickens, dressing and packaging the chickens and distributing. They even provide ready to eat and ready to cook chicken products.
In a country where more than 80% of the population already suffers various levels of antibiotic resistance, this is a great way of addressing the problem and reducing the chemical load that we ingest into our systems when we consume commercially grown poultry products.
For the Pamora Farm model to become success, industry-wide cooperation is required including of various players in the industry such as the fast food chains, restaurants, groceries and the chicken vendors in informal markets. Doing that could user in the Filipino poultry industry into a new health oriented and progressive era of poultry meat consumption.
There is also the need to generate greater awareness and conversation among all stakeholders in the poultry industry such as retailers, consumer advocacy groups, health experts and the poultry producers.