The Council of Agriculture (COA) on Tuesday apologized for issues affecting egg supplies that have resulted in shortages in markets across Taiwan.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) wrote on social media that an “egg crisis” is “sparing no one” and there is no quick end in sight.
“I want to remind the Democratic Progressive Party government once again: The people want a government that solves problems, not a government that explains them,” said Gou, who had presidential aspirations ahead of the 2020 election and is expected to launch a campaign for next year’s election.
Photo: CNA
COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) wrote an apology on Facebook in response to the egg situation, saying that “when Terry Gou becomes concerned about the egg supply, it shows just how important the sustainability of Taiwanese agriculture is.”
Chen apologized for the shortage, but said that agricultural production cannot be quickly ramped up in the way that it can for manufactured items.
Egg-laying hens in Taiwan are procured from feedlots where they are raised for the first two to three months of their lives, he said.
The feedlots get their chickens from breeding farms, which import chickens from the US and other countries, he said.
“If there is a problem in one link of that chain, it can cause a domestic egg shortage,” Chen said.
The shortage this year is being driven by a global outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has affected poultry and egg production in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the US, he said.
Taiwanese authorities have confirmed 74 cases of H5N1 to date and culled 1.03 million chickens on affected farms in Taiwan, he said.
To replace the culled animals, Taiwan has been increasing imports of breeding chickens since late last year, Chen said.
The government is also working with breeding farms to ensure they are supplying at least 490,000 chicks per week to feedlots, Chen said, although he added that there would be a delay before that supply would result in marketplace balance.
Chen’s post did not give a timeframe for when the situation would improve.
It focused on the importance of modernizing Taiwan’s poultry industry to increase its resilience against bird flu outbreaks.
In separate comments on Tuesday, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said that the shortage would ease sometime early next month.
Taiwan’s daily egg demand in the past few years has risen to about 24 million, while its daily production capacity during the shortage has been about 22.6 million eggs, Chen said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS