200 farmers in Antique town now into native chicken production

Two hundred farmers in the municipality of San Remigio, Antique, are now into native chicken production after they were identified as initial beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Office VI Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

Mary Ann Masculino, in charge of the DSWD SLP said that last year, they tapped the services of Central Philippine University's College of Agriculture dean Dr. Jaime Cabarles who developed the native chicken production technology to train the farmers.

Farmers are now able to grow and supply "Mang Inggo" – a famous restaurant in Antique's capital town of San Jose de Buenavista.

Masculino said that the farmers, whose livelihood was then affected by supertyphoon Yolanda, are now organized into a cooperative that will serve as consolidator and marketing outlet of farmers.

Targeted number of farmer-cooperative members towards the end of this year is 500.

They are also beneficiaries of the common service facility project of the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) worth P7 million, which hopefully would be approved and started this year.

The common service facility will be where the feed mill will be established. The local government unit (LGU) of San Remigio will then provide the lot for the facility.

Organic feeds will also be produced at the facility for the 100 heads of native chicken supplied to the market, including Tatoy's in Villa, Iloilo City, which is popular for serving roasted native chicken, every month. (PNA)