Agriculture.ph Blog

What’s new in goats

We just visited the Small Ruminants Center (SRC) at the Central Luzon State University and one of the interesting items we saw is the portable pelletizing machine developed by the center as part of an ongoing research project funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

Dr. Edgar Orden, deputy director of the SRC, said they fabricated the pelletizing machine with the use of second hand materials so that it is not very expensive. Without the motor, it costs just about P20,000.

What is important is that it works. Pelletizing makes it possible to incorporate in one small amount the balanced nutrients needed by the animals. The pellets that they are producing at present consist of shredded napier, ipil-ipil leaf meal, rice bran, copra meal, molasses, dicalcium phosphate and a small amount of salt. A shredding machine that breaks the napier grass into fine particles is also being used by Dr. Orden. It can shred other materials, too.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rene Sumaoang of Novatech has recommended the addition of a rumen enzyme, Rumizyme, that he has cultured. He said that Rumizyme could enhance further digestibility of the nutrients in the pelletized feed.

Dr. Orden also enlightened us about the results of their study on three-way-cross goats. He said that the three-way cross of native goats, Anglo Nubian and Boer results in more than 15% increase in dressing percentage. The dressing percentage is close to 50 percent, which means that the meat obtained from one animal when slaughtered is about 50 percent of the liveweight.. Ordinarily, he said, the dressing percentage of the native goat is just over 30 percent.

Dr. Orden also briefed us on an ongoing project that is part of the RED or Rural Enterprise Development project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The results are very encouraging but that is another story that we will write about next time.

Written by Zac Sarian

Source: Manila Bulletin

Chicharon maker eyes exports

R. LAPID’S Chicharon and Barbecue is aiming to be the country’s exclusive exporter of crispy pork skin or chicharon to the United States after investing in production and packaging machines.

“I am trying to get a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) accreditation and comply with the International Organization for Standardization. If I complete [the certifications], I will be the exclusive chicharon exporter in the country,” Rey C. Lapid, president and owner of R. Lapid’s, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the World Food Expo 2009 in Pasay last week.

The company’s bid to export will begin late this year by increasing chicharon production through a new boiler and kettle machine.

Mr. Lapid said his firm would buy a new machine in the second half and is choosing among suppliers from China, the United States or Taiwan. The purchase will be financed through loans from state-run Land Bank of the Philippines.

“With the boiler, I can save up to 30% of production cost by using less electricity, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas,” Mr. Lapid said, adding that chicharon output might increase by 30%-40% from the current 5,000 kilogram of imported pork skin processed daily.

Meanwhile, a P4-million aluminum packaging machine will be used starting next year, Mr. Lapid added.

HACCP is a management system to address food safety through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material to the production, handling, manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.

R. Lapid’s has received an accreditation from the National Meat Inspection Service for “Good Manufacturing Practices.”

Mr. Lapid said the market for chicharon exports to the US would be overseas Filipinos.

R. Lapid’s, which was established in 1974, began importing raw materials from the US and European countries in 1996 and from Canada since last year.

Expansion of R. Lapid’s stores will be made through motorcycle-style or multi-cab rolling stores given high rental fees in malls and business establishments, Mr. Lapid said.

To date, R. Lapid’s has 100 stores, of which 95 are in Luzon. Five are in the Visayas. — Neil Jerome C. Morales

Source: Business World Online

Novel brooder needs no heater

A unique brooding system has been developed by Andry and Joji Lim of Helen’s Farm in Calinan, Davao City. The two are avid practitioners of natural farming in both crops and farm animals.

Recently, they started raising Sunshine free-range chickens in their farm. And as true innovators, they came up with a system that will do away with the light bulb or the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as source of heat to warm the chicks during the first three weeks of their life.

The first 21 days of the chicks is a most critical period because they could be subjected to stresses they might not be able to endure. That’s why under ordinary systems, the chicks are provided with light bulbs to keep them warm. In places without electricity, the source of heat could be LPG or charcoal.

The brooder that the Lims have devised is simple to construct. A circular enclosure made of plain GI sheet is constructed. One with a 10-feet diameter will be just right for brooding 200 chicks. The plain GI sheet is used so that rats and lizards (bayawak) will not be able to enter the brooder. A fishnet is also installed above to prevent cats from entering.

What is truly unique is the flooring of the brooder. It consists of a mixture of rice hull and rice straw (half-half) that is about one foot thick, and then sprayed with beneficial indigenous microorganisms to keep away the harmful microbes. This generates enough heat to warm the chicks so that there is no need for light bulbs or LPG to provide the needed heat.

Meanwhile Andry Lim recommends that upon arrival of the chicks, they are given right away water with brown sugar to drink. Afterwards, they are fed with a mixture of brown rice and finely chopped bamboo leaves. The bamboo leaves are said to make the intestines of the chicks longer, enabling them to ingest more nutrients from their feed intake.

From the fourth day onwards, they sre fed with a chick booster which Andry himself formulates, consisting of 35 kilos of rice bran, 35 kilos of hammer corn, 10 kilos of soya meal, and 5 kilos of copra meal. Before all the ingredients are mixed together, 15 liters of fermented fruit and plant juice concentrates and herbal extracts are mixed with 15 kilos out of the 35 kilos of rice bran.

Written by Zac Sarian

Source: Manila Bulletin

Negros feared to lose billion-peso industry in GMO ban

ONE of the country’s largest suppliers of feeds may pull out its contract-growing operations in Negros Occidental if the Provincial Government decides to continue with the implementation of Ordinance 007, which bans entry of genetically-modified products into the province.

Joey Avila, Visayas area manager of B-MEG, a subsidiary of San Miguel Group of Companies, Friday said the company will have no choice but to suspend the contract growing and possibly transfer it to other provinces.

The company supplies 30,000 sacks of mixed feeds to contract growers of Magnolia and 100,000 sacks contracted by other poultry companies every month, he said. For Magnolia contract growers alone, B-MEG generates monthly sales of P50-70 million, Avila said.

The province is the second net exporter of poultry products in the country next to Bulacan.

The Negros Hograisers Association (NHA), Negros Occidental Poultry Raisers Association and the Association of Backyard Raisers in Negros Occidental have called on the Provincial Government to declare a moratorium on the ordinance’s implementation pending the review and possible amendments to the 2007 law.

They claimed that they incurred P.9-million in additional costs for animal feeds after the ban was enforced in April. Hogs and poultry raisers were forced to source their feed requirements from Panay which translated to an additional P2 per kilo of feeds. They consume 15 tons or 15,000 kilos of feeds daily.

NHA president Albert Lim also stressed that the indecision by the Provincial Government has caused the suspension of investments in the province, particularly in the establishment of feed mills which will not only provide livelihood opportunities but employment as well.

Meanwhile, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official claimed the implementation of the anti-GMO ordinance “will kill the strength” of the livestock and poultry industry in Negros Occidental.

DA director for Biotech Program Office Alicia Ilaga told provincial officials Friday to “weigh the consequences if they decide to fully implement the ordinance.”

Ilaga was one of the nine speakers in the five-day en banc committee hearing on the anti-GMO ordinance that culminated yesterday at the Provincial Board (PB) session hall.

She noted: “If we ban all GM products like feeds, vaccines, cotton and other products, are there organic counterparts readily available that can suffice the need of the livestock and poultry sector?”

The PB will deliberate on the pros and cons that were raised by the invited resource speakers to decide on whether or not the ordinance will be amended.

Dr. Saturnina Halos, another resource speaker, told the PB that “transition to organic is very hard and more expensive.”

Further, resource speaker Dr. Santiago Obien also said the Provincial Government will need a P3-billion budget to effectively implement the ordinance.

Halos, chairperson of the DA Biotech Advisory Team, also informed the PB that there is “no single detection kit for GM crops” thus, the use of “your kit right now could be a venue for corruption.”

Meanwhile, University of the Philippines College of Public Health dean Dr. Nina Gloriani said there are different views on the use of aspartame, a biotech product, and “anything used in over-dosage can kill.”

“GM and non-GM products can co-exist,” a fact that will be highlighted in the 4th International Conference on Biotechnology in Australia in November this year, she said.

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on 1, 2009.

Written By George M. De La Cruz

Source: Sun Star

Growing own fertilizer, feeds

THEY are not given much attention by farmers. In fact, some people consider them as wastes and of no value at all.

But at the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation Inc., azolla, nitrogen-fixing shrubs like kakawate and ipil-ipil, and even earthworms are turning them into something useful: as source of fertilizer and feeds.

“We found that by growing them in the farm, we can lessen our expenses,” said Roy C. Alimoane, who directs the non-government organization based in the southern part of the Philippines. “Also, in a way, we are helping our environment since we don’t throw anything — including our garbage.”

All the garbage in the farm “excluding non-biodegradable” are gathered and placed in the vermicompost area. The collected garbage is used as feed for earthworm. Earthworm castings or vermicompost is one important form of organic fertilizer, which farmers can readily use in their farms.

“We found out that vermicompost is good for vegetables and even fruit trees,” said Ian Ogatis, who manages the area. He also conducts vermicompost experiments and teaches farmers who are interested to learn how to raise earthworms and produce their own vermicompost.

“While low in major plant nutrients compared to chemical fertilizers,” pointed out Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, who popularized vermicomposting in the country, “vermicompost supports microorganisms, which make nutrients more readily available to plants and produce substances that promote plant growth and health.”

Studies on the use of vermicompost for crop production show that application of chemical fertilizers can be reduced up to 100 percent for certain vegetables and corn, and by 50 percent for rice and sugarcane. A field experiment using vermicompost with corn at five tons per hectare increased ear lengths of plants by 114 percent, with the total yield comparable to that of plants fertilized at the recommended rate of inorganic fertilizer.

In a recent pot experiment conducted on eggplant, results showed that a combination of vermicompost at 100 grams per pot (6.2 tons per hectare) and 50 percent of the recommended chemical fertilizer application gave a significantly higher yield (15 percent more) of eggplant fruits, compared to that with 100 percent chemical fertilization, after 120 days from planting.

At the MBRLC farm, vermimeal (biomass processed into meal form as a source of animal protein in the diet of fish, poultry, and livestock) is still not used. On a dry weight basis, vermimeal contains 64 to 70 percent protein, 7 to 10 percent fat, 8 to 20 percent carbohydrate and 2 to 3 percent minerals. It is also rich in long-chain fatty acids and vitamins.

Another natural source of feed is the floating fern called azolla.ÿIt is very rich in proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B12 and Beta- Carotene), growth promoter intermediaries and minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, ferrous, copper, and magnesium, among others.

On a dry weight basis, azolla contains 25-35 percent protein, 10-15 percent minerals, and 7-10 percent of amino acids, bio-active substances and bio-polymers. The carbohydrate and fat content of azolla is very low.

“We raise azolla in our ponds using nets,” said Alimoane. “Every afternoon, we collect them and use them as feed for our tilapia. In only a matter of minutes, the azolla are immediately gone. Tilapia loves to eat them.”

Azolla can also be used as feed for dairy cattle, pigs, ducks, and chickens. Studies reported of increases in milk production, weight of broiler chickens and egg production of layers when these are fed with azolla as compared to conventional feed.

Azolla is also an excellent source of fertilizer. Studies show that azolla contains 4-5 percent nitrogen, 1-1.5 percent phosphorus, and 2-3 percent potassium. As such, it can be applied as organic fertilizer in fresh, dried, or composted form. If composted alone, decomposition takes about two weeks.

Rice farmers should consider growing azolla in their fields. “Any rice plant, modern or traditional, requires one kilogram of nitrogen to produce 15 to 20 kilograms of grain,” said Dr. Iwao Watanabe, former head of the Soil Microbiology Department of the International Rice Research Institute. “Most tropical soils absorb enough nitrogen naturally to grow about one ton or 1.5 tons of rice per year. To increase yields above that, nitrogen must be supplied.”

Rice farmers who grow azolla can grow their own fertilizer. For only three hours labor per hectare, a farmer can grow enough azolla to increase yields by 1.5 tons per hectare. “Azolla growth does not interfere with normal rice cultivation,” Watanabe said. “In fact, it helps control weeds and improves soil texture.”

In the upland areas, the natural source of fertilizer would be ipil-ipil as its foliage rivals manure in nitrogen content. One study showed that ipil-ipil leaves were comparable to ammonium sulfate in supplying the nitrogen requirement of rice plants in flooded and non-flooded soil conditions.

Corn grain yields were equally as high whether fertilized with herbage from intercropped ipil-ipil in single hedgerows or with commercial fertilizer.

But there’s more to ipil-ipil than just fertilizer. Its aggressive root system “breaks up impervious subsoil layers, improve ng moisture penetration and decreasing surface runoff,” to quote the NAS report. “Nutrients from deep strata are gradually deposited on the surface through decay of the leaves and other plant parts; soil organisms increase, topsoil humus rebuilds.”

At the MBRLC, leaves of ipil-ipil are used as green manure for vegetable crops grown in its Food Always In The Home (Faith) gardens. The leaves are placed inside the basket or trench composts. In addition, it is used as a hedgerow species to control erosion in its famous Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (Salt).

But due to psyllid (Heterophsylla cubana) infestation, the MBRLC recommends other species. These are Desmodium rensonii, Flemingia macrophylla, Indigofera anil, and Gliricidia sepium. All these species are introduced, excluding the latter which is locally known as kakawate.

“We recommend that farmers plant these four species in their farm. If one species is attacked by pests, there are three other species left,” said Alimoane.

All the species are also utilized as feed for their dairy goats. On the other hand, the goat manure are collected and used as fertilizer for the hedgerow species and other crops in the farm.

(Readers who want to know more about what have featured in the article can reach the MBRLC by sending an e-mail to mbrlc@mozcom.com. You can also call them at this number: (064) 533-2378.)

Written By Henrylito D. Tacio

Source: Sun Star

Local inventor’s poultry equipment can trigger backyard businesses

An incubator for custom hatching of poultry eggs and another more sophisticated one for those of ostriches, or cages for chicken brooding, growing and laying at every possible scale.

These are just examples of the many poultry gadgets and equipment of Filipino inventor Jose Abellar, owner and president of Abellar Equipment Philippines.

“There are a number of doable businesses in poultry that even small-scale entrepreneurs can do, be it in the rural or urban areas, or in a big farm setting or simply at the backyard,” said Abellar.

One such business is backyard poultry raising through the use of a steel cage module called “Brooder, Grower, Broiler Cage Assembly” or simply BGB cage, which is made of sturdy welded wire.

“Growing the birds in BGB cages is more beneficial than growing them in a colony system. The metal cage is very hygienic. The birds have a better feed conversion because they are confined in a small area where movement is limited. There are usually no runts in each batch because of enough feeding space and ventilation,” Abellar explained.

Two feet wide, 1.5 feet tall and 16 feet long, the BGB cage, with its steel support, stands two feet from the ground and has four compartments, each with an area of two feet by four feet for a combined 100-bird capacity.

Thus, brooding can be done right in the cage. Then, when the chicks are about three or four weeks old, 25 can be placed in each of the four compartments, where they will be raised for about 35 to 40 days.

The divisions prevent the overcrowding of chicken at any one part of the cage and make it convenient to handle them during medication and other procedures. Feeders on both sides of the cage are very convenient to fill and refill.

Using the same cage module, an entrepreneur can also grow pullets for egg production. After brooding, the birds will be raised in this cage until they are 16 weeks old and ready for transfer to the layer house.

The module can also be expanded to raise capacity since the cages can be joined together forming a straight line. At 100 birds per module, it will take only 100 modules to expand that capacity to 10,000. For this purpose, Abellar has a rail-based feed dispensing system that can distribute feeds in just 10 minutes.

Moreover, the BGB cage can be used to house ready-to-lay pullets of 16 weeks old. Day-old chicks usually cost R30 each, and after raising them for 16 weeks, they are usually sold at only R160 each. Thus, many egg producers buy ready-to-lay pullets since these are supposed to have been fully vaccinated and will start generating income in just a few weeks.

Another possible business is custom hatching using Abellar’s incubator, which caters mostly to fowl breeders. This incubator, with a capacity of 360 eggs, can hatch different batches of eggs of various quantities in a continuing operation.

Abellar’s another line of incubators is for ostrich eggs. “This incubator features a digital thermostat, the first of its kind introduced in the Philippines,” Abellar said. “It has a fully automated egg turner that operates according to the time programmed by the owner, depending on his requirements. This machine also includes such other features as electronic thermostat, heater pilot lights, built-in water pan, external water refill receptacle, magnetic door locks, panoramic glass viewing doors, fiberglass housing and low wattage.”

Abellar’s products will be showcased with those of various firms from around the world during the staging of Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink 2009 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on October 8-10. “This international event, the country’s best agri trade fair, not only helped me meet clients, but also offered me insights on how I could further contribute to the industry,” Abellar stressed.

Supported by some 20 national trade associations with ABS-CBN as media partner, Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink constitute the country’s biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agribusiness, food and aquaculture.

Email frld@pldtdsl.net for more information from event organizer Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development.

Source: www.mb.com.ph

Gov’t lines up measures for meat processors

THE AGRICULTURE department has identified a number of measures to help meat processors, an official statement quoted Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador S. Salacup as saying.

For instance, the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) are drafting a joint draft administrative order to delineate their duties and responsibilities over meat products.

“As far as accreditation of their meat establishment is concerned, they will no longer be securing license to operate from the BFAD, but will only have to apply for accreditation directly with NMIS,” Mr. Salacup said. “Meat processors and traders stand to benefit from the proposed simplified system of registration and accreditation of their products and establishments.”

Dindo A. Danao, member of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors, Inc., concurred, saying in a phone interview that “for us, it would be better if we will only talk with one agency.”

NMIS will continue offering free training for meat processors to help them comply with Good Manufacturing Practices, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points.

“If they are not accredited [as producers of good quality meat products], they cannot deliver products to neighboring cities and municipalities,” Executive Director Jane C. Bacayo said in a separate phone interview.

Ms. Bacayo added that NMIS is undergoing a modernization program until next year to enable the agency to measure meat products’ chemical residues.

The NMIS is also applying for accreditation from the International Standards Organization for its central meat laboratory, Mr. Salacup said.

The P90-billion local meat processing industry employs 35,000 Filipinos directly and 50,000 indirectly, industry figures show. — N. J. C. Morales

Source: www.bworldonline.com

Stop using dangerous chemicals in veterinary drugs

The continued use of banned chemicals in the manufacture of veterinary products, including those that may cause cancer, must stop, Agriculture Undersecretary for Operations Jesus M. Paras told various stakeholders in the livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries who met the other day to finalize the guidelines in implementation of a National Veterinary Drug Residues Control Program.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap recently issued an order (DA-AO-14) that sets into motion the program that seeks to make sure that all meats and other animal-produced food raised in the country are safe for humans and to the environment.

“Modern food production systems should be designed and managed to ensure that the exposure of food producing animals to veterinary drugs does not pose a risk to human health,” Undersecretary Paras stressed.

Also to be banned, he said, is the slaughter of animals treated with veterinary drugs when these are under withdrawal period from those drugs.

Paras told the food animal producers, farm veterinarians, veterinary drug manufacturers, traders, and distributors that they will be held responsible in ensuring that the foodstuff they produce and sell to the public are safe.

He said that the competent arms of the government like the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), the Bureau of Animal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD), must work as a team in controlling the use of veterinary drugs and checking on sound practices.

He said he will be recommending to Secretary Yap that the NMIS be over-all coordinator of the drug residues control program in food.

Paras explained that the local program is guided by the international food law. The implementing guidelines were prepared by a technical committee. Industry participants in the working conference were asked to help finalize the guidelines.

The new order regulating veterinary drugs, and other recent orders issued by the secretary of agriculture “are designed specifically to strengthen the position of the Filipino agri-fishery industry’s position in both the local and foreign markets,” he said.

Europe, the United States, and Japan have recently been tightening their health, safety, and environment standards on most of their imports, especially food products.

Source: www.mb.com.ph

Natural farmer in Bicol raises odor-free pigs

GOA, Camarines Sur—A young woman from this far-flung Bicol town is into natural farming, growing high-value organic crops and raising “vegetarian” hogs in a piggery farm that does not produce offensive smell.

Applying the natural farming approach, Arlene Dayo first produced bitter gourd (ampalaya), tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber and squash with sizes and quantity of fruits that equaled those grown by farmers using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. She used natural attractants to trap unfriendly insects.

Using the same technique, she later engaged in upland rice farming and produced the indigenous “red rice,” a variety that commands a higher market price both in the locality and in out-of-town areas, including Metro Manila.

Red rice contains more fiber than white rice. It is rich in anthocyanins, antioxidant nutrients that give red rice its color.

On dry seasons, when rain-fed rice lands in the area turn idle, Dayo said she could produce at least 50 cavans of red rice from her 8,000-square-meter upland farm, a quantity that is much higher than those produced by lowland farmers from same-size farms who depend on water and chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Dayo, 33, and a mother of three, is a former agricultural technician of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and an agribusiness graduate from the Bicol University College of Agriculture and Forestry.

“Natural farming applies no chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The savings I get from not using these synthetic farm inputs becomes part of my earnings. That makes my earnings significantly higher compared with what lowland rice farmers get,” she said.

Out of her 50-bag red rice production per cropping season during the last two years, Dayo said she realized an average net income of nearly P19,000 per harvest. Each year provides two cropping seasons for upland rice farming.

Her successful venture into natural rice and vegetable farming also took Dayo into the natural way of hog raising.

She said her low-cost, no-odor hog-raising project should inspire farmers who want to avoid expensive feed meals. The pigpen is well-ventilated, with one-meter-deep bedding backfilled with soil, salt, sawdust or coconut husk with beneficial microorganisms.

The animals follow their instinct to root and dig and they get the natural food, nutrient and minerals they need from the soil.

Dayo said she produces the forage mixed with rice bran and given to the hogs, such as trichanthera, flemengia, indigofera, talinum, rensonii, camote, kangkong and oregano. The pigs’ waterer or drinker contains oriental herbal nutrients and other major natural inputs.

The beddings remain odor- and housefly-free with a once-a-week spray of an indigenous microorganism concoction that Dayo and members of her household prepare.

Dayo said hog meat produced this way has a distinctly pleasing taste and good-cooking consistency.  Her hog meat sells briskly even if it is sold at a price higher than pork obtained from conventionally raised hogs, she added.

“A visit to Dayo’s farm leaves some visitors in awe upon discovering that hogs can be raised in a clean, odor-free and environment-friendly farm,” DA regional executive director for Bicol Jose Dayao said.

“This exceptional lady farmer fits well the United Nation’s description of women in promoting gender equity as particularly vulnerable for depending more on the natural environment for their livelihood than men do,” Dayao said.

“They cope with fewer resources and greater workload” was how the UN describes women in its Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that includes women empowerment, Dayao said.

Moved by the results observed from Dayo’s farm and through her prodding, other women in the neighboring villages have gone into farming adopting the natural style.

Myrna Acayen of Bgy. Digdigon here has engaged in diversified and integrated farming system, as well as organic agriculture and with Dayo’s guidance, her venture has proven successful.

Since late last year, Acayen had also been growing rice and vegetables following the natural farming principles.  That, according to Dayo, is “the combination of respect for life and environment; use of indigenous microorganism; and zero tillage, insecticides, herbicides and emission of harmful livestock waste.”

Several others in the locality, most of them women like Adela Magsino, followed suit by growing fruit trees like dalandan, lemon, pomelo and rambutan through natural farming.

With Dayo’s encouragement, Jane Concepcion of Bgy. Pinaglabanan is now growing corn the natural farming way.

Perhaps, Dayo’s most prominent technology adopter, is the local government unit (LGU) here which was “fired by her young fiery energy.” The municipality had recently set up a 20-head natural farming piggery project and a 3,500-square-meter natural farming demonstration farm within the town hall’s compound, municipal livestock coordinator Rosemarie Pacao said.

To further encourage natural farming among local farmers, the LGU now produces and sells at low cost inputs for both crops and livestock.

Dayo has credited town mayor Antero Lim for headways made in natural farming in the locality. She said, the mayor’s all-out support to natural farming system spurred her on.

Lim has identified natural farming for hog-raising as well as rice, corn, and vegetable production as priority projects of the LGU on agriculture and livelihood, Dayo added.

“Ultimately, institutionalizing natural farming supports environment-friendly agriculture, higher yield, reduced cost, better and quality of goods—big goals and a small woman like Dayo—is just making the difference,” Dayao remarked.

Written by Danny O. Calleja

Source: Business Mirror

Lanao del Norte hosts the biggest dairy farm in RP

MANILA, Philippines – Having a population of more than 5,000 heads of cattle, the biggest dairy farm in the country today can be found in Lanao del Norte.

Two thousand of these cows were imported directly from Australia and in the years that followed the mother cows begat more than 3,000 offsprings.

The dairy farm is owned and managed by the Lanao Foundation, Inc. (LFI) in coordination with Lanao del Norte provincial government.

Dr. Usodan Samporna, chief of Lanao del Norte’s provincial veterinarian’s office, said the dairy farm received a lot of help from the Dimaporos.

“Through the able leadership of Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo, former governor of Lanao del Norte, the dairy farm was birthed and it is now a reality,” Samporna said. “It was pursued by his wife Imelda (former governor) and his son, currently the governor of the province Gov. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo.”

Samporna said a milk processing plant was constructed at the Bangaan, Sultan Naga Dimaporo (formerly Karomatan, the place where the late Gov. Mohamad  “Ali” Dimaporo and his family settled).

“The milk processing plant can operate 24 hours a day with a capacity of 72,000 liters of milk from 20,000 head of cows,” he said.

The veterinary chief said at present 103 cows produce 344 liters of milk in the morning. They are milked at a milking parlor located at Barangay Barakayo, Sultan Naga Dimaporo about four kilometers away from the milk processing plant. There is no record yet how many liters of milk that the 448 cows can produce in the afternoon, he added.

Samporno said the milk is distributed according to a milk feeding program covering Lanao del Norte, Cagayan de Oro and neighboring provinces.

Samporno also said the tie-up between LFI and Land 0’Lakes (LOL), the biggest milk cooperative in the world, the province dairy farm will be more aggressive in distributing the milk in the entire island of Mindanao.

Based on the agreement entered into recently between the LFI and the L0L, the L0L will supply cow breeders from the US to LFI and the latter will buy its cows’ offspring for the dairy zones which they established.

Samporna said that one dairy zone will be put up by L0L in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao which is the LFI.

The vision of LFI is to provide milk to at least 60,000 farm families in the province and its nearby neighboring provinces, Samporna said.

Written by Breezy Jimenez

Source: Philippine Star