Model dairy farm up for expansion

DAGUPAN CITY - A dairy project put up six years ago in Barangay Maraboc, Laoac town will soon be expanded, according to Fifth District Congresswoman Kimi Cojuangco.

Cojuangco said the project, put up by her husband Mark, whom she replaced as representative of the province’s fifth district, is now a model project not only in Pangasinan but the whole country.

She said this is one of the legacies from her husband Mark that one can be proud of as this can be a showcase for the whole province and even the whole nation.

Started with only 100 cows sometime in 2005, the project now comprises up to 700 cows, mostly females producing milk for dairy purposes.

“It’s now getting bigger,” said Cojuangco, referring to the project.

“In fact, sa dami ng gatas, hindi namin alam kung ano ang gagawin namin ditto,” she said.

But she said, they have negotiated with SM City Rosales, some four towns away from Laoac, for it to buy the Laoac dairy farm product daily.

The project, she said, is owned by the people of the Fifth District of Pangasinan though she admitted that then Fourth District Congressman Jose de Venecia Jr. joined the project by putting in another 100 cows.

Barangay Maraboc in Laoac, where the dairy farm is located, is in the town’s border with the town of Manaoag in the Fourth District of Pangasinan.

Cojuangco said since the dairy project is so successful, she will use part of her Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to have it expanded.

She said she plans to put up one silo each in the towns of Binalonan, Pozorrubio, Sison, Urdaneta, Villasis, Sto. Tomas, Alcala and Bautista for these towns to also put up their respective dairy farms. (Leonardo V. Micua)