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Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Kabir chicken, 'itik' projects bear fruit in Ifugao
LAGAWE, Ifugao -- The kabir chicken and "itik" (muscovy duck) projects of the Provincial Government yielded positive results especially on the improvement of the economic, health, and nutrition status of beneficiaries in poor barangays.
Started in 2001 under the Health and Nutrition Status Improvement-Poverty Alleviation Program (Hensi-Pap) of former governor Teddy Baguilat Jr., the project was continued by Governor Benjamin Cappleman in 2004 as it was observed to be very helpful to the indigents, especially in uplifting their economic and nutrition situation.
The purpose of the projects are to disperse improved fowls to qualified recipients and help upgrade the native chickens raised in the poor barangays, provide income generating opportunities to the beneficiaries, and help improve their nutrition status.
So far, 630 heads of the kabir chicken aged three months old were dispersed to 290 beneficiaries in 14 barangays of the province while 334 heads of itik were also distributed to seven barangays.
There are three schemes from which the beneficiaries can select under certain terms and conditions in the dispersal.
Scheme A - one male and two females with repayment of one male and three females after reproduction; scheme B - one male and one female with repayment of one male and two females and; scheme C - one male for upgrading purposes with repayment of one male and one female.
The repaid animals will then be re-dispersed. Based on the monitoring report of the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO), they were able to re-disperse 795 heads of chickens to additional beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, the itik dispersal project is gaining more popularity as demands for its distribution is increasing after it was found out by the beneficiaries that the ducks are very effective in eliminating the "golden snails" in ricefields, which is a very big problem of rice farmers.
Farmers said that instead of using expensive pesticides to get rid of the pesky snails, they could make use of the ducks, which are fond of eating the snails thus controlling their proliferation. With this, the farmers are also able to save the money intended for the purchase of duck feeds.
Requests for more itik dispersals are now swamping the PVO. As such, the Provincial Government intends to procure additional 265 heads of ducks for distribution before the rice-planting season begins this year.
Farmer-beneficiaries claimed the duck project is easier to handle because they are required to only repay 120 eggs produced for every 25 heads of ducks given, considering the itiks are very prolific egg-layers.
The steady supply of itik eggs also augments the nutrition needs of the barangays.
(May 16, 2006 issue)
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