Forty-nine-year-old Anne Sacro – member of the Upstream Livelihood Farmers Association in Bacsay, Luna, Apayao – attested that she earned Php 12,290 from the Poultry Production Project of the Department of Agriculture-Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program.

The project, worth Php 135,000 includes 270 free range chicken distributed to 54 farmers in December 2019. Each member received five chicken worth Php 2,500.

Anne Sacro’s project implementation

Anne and her husband, Rolando, used to earn from vegetable farming and selling native chicken, duck, and rooster in their neighborhood. They earn Php 13,000 a month.

When she became a beneficiary of SAAD, her family’s living condition improved as their income increased by 11%.

With her earnings from SAAD, she bought five cavans of rice at Php 2,500/cavan (50 kilograms) and even saved up for the next month’s food supply to support her family.

Anne reared the chicken for 7 months and gathered 40 chicks in August 2020. Five of these were immediately turned over to the next grantee.

She started a small poultry farm business from the remaining 40 chicken, which includes the original stock. She sold both chicken and eggs.

From December 2020 to January 2021, Anne sold 15 chicken at Php 750 each giving her an income of Php 11,250.

She also earned from selling eggs at Php 130/tray. So far, she sold 8 trays (24 pieces each) and gained Php 1,040.

As of February, Anne has 25 remaining chickens which she plans to reproduce to share with her co-members whose chicken died from pest infestations.

Anne added that she is willing to guide and help the other 53 members to produce more stocks. She is planning to buy an egg incubator that would help in her poultry production.

At present, she taps another SAAD association – the Midstream Farmer’s Association – who lets her use the machine for free until the eggs are hatched.

“Bassit man wenu dakel a banag, nu maited kinka nga pagsyaatan, tariwatem tapnon nu kasta ket haan ka lang nga agur-uray iti agnanayun nga tulong dapat bilang sika nga tul-tulungan da, ammom metlang nga tulungan iti bagim [Small or big blessing, you must learn how to value it. If you were given such support, you must not only wait for others to help you but you should help yourself too], shared Anne.

Anne proudly shared that her journey in rearing the poultry stocks was not easy but she was happy that her labor pays her off that much. ###

Writer: Kathleen Faye B. Agonoy, Information Officer I, SAAD Apayao
Copy Editor: Jennifer Valcobero, SAAD NPMO Public Relation and Communications Officer