CROSSBREDS BRING NEW DAWN TO COCONUT FARMERS IN LEON TOWN

In the town of Leon, amid a carpet of lush greenery, Sitio Tabionan of Barangay Bucari or the “Little Baguio” of Western Visayas situates.

The seasonality of coconut farming, the town’s primary livelihood, led some members of the “Confederation of Coconut Farmers Organizations of the Philippines” to pursue dairying as an alternative source of income.

In October 2017, the “Leon Confed Farmers Dairy Association (LECOFADA)” was established through the help of PCC@WVSU.

In more than a year, the association counts for 130 dedicated members. It became a beneficiary of 18 crossbred buffaloes and some bulls through the “paiwi” program of PCC, last 2018.

As early as the year 2000, certain barangays of Leon had engaged in carabao upgrading efforts, which resulted in the births of crossbred calves in these areas.

Perlito Echeche, one of the progressive farmers who, in later years was elected chairman of LECOFADA, observed that the common practice of the owners was to sell their crossbreds at the auction market. Hence, when he met some personnel of PCC@WVSU who talked to him about the idea of using crossbreds for dairying, he considered it as something that can be of big help to the farmers in his area.

“For a long time, our farmers in Leon considered the native buffaloes as a good ally for draft power. We didn’t know that crossbreds can lead us to dairying,” Perlito pointed out.

With the assistance of some personnel of the PCC@WVSU, they convinced the farmers to form an association for dairy farming. They also said that it is a very feasible enterprise since they have areas in their coconut plantation for forage production.

Then the qualified members of the group were entrusted with 40 male Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes (BMB) by the center.

From then on, the PCC@WVSU afforded them support through activities such as program orientation, trainings, technical support, and on-site visits.

“We also conducted free services such as AI to increase further the population of crossbreds in the area. The crossbreds have the ability to produce four to five liters of milk each day and the farmers may sell them for Php50 per liter,” PCC@WVSU officer-in-charge (OIC) Arn Granada, said.

OIC Granada gladly reported that in a span of seven years, the crossbreds grew in number to 433 in the area.

Perlito on the other hand said: “We hope to further propagate the crossbreds by targeting to produce at least 10 calves per quarter.”

As the farmers became aware of the benefits that dairying can give them, they started firming up a different regard for their crossbreds. They stopped selling them for meat.

A year after, when LECOFADA was established, some members of LECOFADA had their first delightful experience in milk collection. From October to December, the association chalked up a record of 296.5 liters of milk collected from the members’ lactating animals.

In the case of Perlito, he decided to buy some of LECOFADA’s milk for Php50 a liter. His daughter Kimberly, a VBAIT, then processes the milk into dairy products.

“We process about 12 liters of milk three times a week. We turn them to about 300 bottles of flavored milk with strawberry, chocolate, melon and pandan variants,” Kimberly said.

She added that she sells the flavored milk at Php25 per 330 ml either at the bagsakan center, town cooperative or schools in their area.

“I continuously share the blessings of dairying to other farmers by making them aware of the PCC’s initiatives and the assistance it can provide for this enterprise,” Perlito said.

LECOFADA also does its share in this regard by helping in the campaign to the farmers in other towns to engage in this kind of livelihood.