MOUNTAIN PROVINCE, December 27, 2021 – A member of the Pudo Farmers Organization earned from selling brown eggs produced from the Brown Egg Production project provided by the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program in Pudo, Natonin, Mountain Province.

Before, around 150 households in barangay Pudo had their way of providing their basic needs through backyard vegetable farming and rice enough for family consumption. Until the SAAD Program reached the community and the proposed brown egg production for livelihood assistance came and was implemented by most households.

On March 3, the program awarded the association a poultry package consisting of 2,750 DeKalb Brown Chicken and supplementary poultry supplies comprising 40 boxes of dewormer, 40 boxes of anti-infectives with vitamins, 220 bags of chicken layer mash, 220 bags of corn grits, 1,100 pieces of tricantera or madre de agua cuttings, 110 poultry drinker, 110 poultry feeder, and 110 black fishnets worth Php 3.1 million under FY 2020.

The group divided the interventions received from the program to 110 members for individual and backyard production. Each member received 25 stocks, two bags of chicken layer mash, two bags of corn grits, 10 tricantera cuttings, one poultry drinker, one poultry feeder, and a roll of black fishnet after having no communal area for production.

Aiding in employment: income for a stay-at-home mother

A 32-year-old member of the Pudo Farmers Organization, Diana Stanley, sold 62 trays of eggs at Php 150 per tray from June to October 2021. In five months, she earned a gross income of Php 9,300 from the project.

Diana is a full-time nursing mother depending on her husband for everyday living. The project enabled her to earn to help support her family’s needs.

“Mayat ta uray a-agyanak ditoy balay adda ti sangka-bassit nga ma-in-income ko nga pang-gatang ko iti vitamins ti anak ko ken pangkusina. Maysa pay mayat met ta maipar-paruwar dagitoy da manok ti sumaruno nga i-gatang ko iti kanenda nga feeds (It is so good that even if I have to stay at home, I still earn to buy vitamins for my child and provide my family with eggs. One thing more, it feels good seeing my stocks being able to produce and provide for their next feeding),” she expressed.

Diana is just one of more than 6,000 women beneficiaries in the Cordillera served by the program. She plans to venture into producing chicks to supply the community while the organization will receive two units of incubators that they could use to expand their venture other than egg production. ###

Writer: Dinah D. Ay-yango, SAAD Mountain Province, Information Officer

Source: CDO/beneficiary/published articles/