BUKIDNON, November 10, 2022 – To ensure continuous egg production, two (2) units of egg incubators worth Php 99,000 were turned over to the members of the Anlag Ani Tapukanan Consumers Cooperative and some former rebel-beneficiaries last October 5-6, 2022, under the FY 2021 savings fund of the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program.
The provision of the 500-egg capacity incubators is part of the DA’s support to Executive Order No. 70, or to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC).
Aside from the turn-over, operational demonstration for the said machine was carried out for the recipients to properly operate, maintain, and manage its use. The turnover was facilitated through the Philippine Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion (58th IB) and 88th Infantry Battalion (88th IB).
In addition, the DA-SAAD 10 held a free-range chicken production training for the said participants, joined by the soldiers, and members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU).
There were 23 participants from the 58th IB and 40 participants from the 88th IB, led by Veterinarian Dr. Dianara Celeste O. Ua-o and Mr. Raymund L. Bornea of SAAD as speakers of the training.
Prior to the training, beneficiaries received 100 free-range chicken delivered to the 58th IB and CAFGU members and 110 free-range chickens delivered to the 88th IB last June 2022. DA-SAAD 10 also conducted monitoring activities to provide status of the free-range chicken raised at the 88th IB’s farm.
The poultry animals were sourced from the SAAD Chicken Multiplier Farm in the DA’s Research Center for Upland Development (RCUD) station of Dangcagan, Bukidnon. The incubators were provided last October 5 and 6 to optimize production efficiency and assist the mother hens from hatching eggs.
“This training is one of the many opportunities that would expose them to developing their long-term livelihood,” said CAA Julio Romano Compas, a member of the Anlag Ani Tapukanan Consumers Cooperative.
The former rebels, most of them housed at the headquarters of the 58th IB and 88th IB, are the beneficiaries of the SAAD interventions and the ones involved in raising the free-range chicken provided by SAAD.
DA-10 continuously provides agricultural assistance such as provision of poultry, livestock, and agricultural machinery and equipment and the conduct of training as part of the government’s pursuit of peace and to uplift the lives of the beneficiaries in partnership with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). ###
Writer: Andrea Dawn E. Boycillo, DA-SAAD Region 10 Information Officer
