SORSOGON, January 20, 2021 – Thirty (30) members of the Catanagan Farmer’s Association reported Php 7,715 initial income from selling chicken eggs, a business developed from the Free-Range Production Project granted by the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program in 2021.

The Php 562,000 poultry inputs received by the association in August includes 400 native chickens, 40 pieces (pcs) of laminated sacks, 120 bags of chicken feed layer, 80 bags of chicken grower, 80pc of chicken feeder, 80pc of chicken drinker or waterer, and 8 rolls of plastic screen or net.

The group was divided into two subgroups assigned to the management and raising of the free-range chicken (Kabir).

Subgroup-1 (20 members) raised 270 chickens in a 500 square meters (sqm) communal area while Subgroup-2 (10 members) managed the remaining 130 chickens in their 200sqm shared space.

After two months of good chicken management, each subgroup started to gather eggs and sold them in pieces and in trays. From November to December, 493 eggs were sold at Php 5/pc and 35 trays at Php 150/tray (Table 1).Table 1. Catanagan FA’s chicken egg production income

Subgroup	Date of harvest	Eggs sold (pc)	Trays sold (no.)	Cost/egg (Php 5/pc)	Cost/tray  (Php 150)	Gross Income (Php)
(a)	(b)	(c)	(d)	(e) (c x e)	(f) (d x f)	(g) (e+f)
1	November to December	–	33	–	4,950.00	4,950.00
2		493	2	2,465.00	300.00	2,765.00
Total		493	35	2,465.00	5,250.00	7,715.00

According to the members, the first two years will be the chicken’s peak production. Then, egg counts will naturally decrease each following year as the birds enter retirement around 5 to 7 years.

Marites Gumal, member of the association, shared her gratitude to the SAAD Program. She said, “Damo damo po na pasasalamat para sa SAAD na napili kami na mahatagan sin mga manok. Dakulang bagay po talaga ini saamon na makabenepisyo didi sa programa nindo. Maogmahon po ang saamo asosasyon.”

[We’re very grateful to SAAD for choosing us as a recipient of these chickens. It is a huge help to be a beneficiary of this program. Our association is really happy.]

According to FA President Gerry Baldebina, they built a house for the chickens using their earnings.

The remaining money will be allocated to the association’s maintenance cost that will be incurred such as for biologics and feeds.

This year, the group plans to start their production of value-adding products such as kakanin, bilangoy, and leche flan using chicken eggs from their harvest. ###

 

 

Writer: Pauline Trixia D. Borja, SAAD Program Sorsogon Information Officer

Sources:
Mary Rose Detera, SAAD Program Sorsogon Provincial Coordinator
Ma. Ligaya Renegado, SAAD Area Coordinator of Juban
Gail Antioquia, SAAD Livestock and Poultry Technical Staff

Photos: SAAD Program Sorsogon