FOR A DAIRY FARMER IN MARAMAG, BUKIDNON, HAVING PAINS MEANS HAVING GAINS

Living in a mountainous area, traversing a very rough road just to get to his place, and enduring all consequences brought by the loss of electricity supply, Zosimo Tejano of Maramag, Bukidnon, didn’t take all these as hindrances for him to continue his venture in buffalo dairying.

Zosimo, one of the assisted dairy farmers of PCC@CMU, pursued this undertaking despite such limited amenities in his area.

The PCC@CMU provided him an Italian Mediterranean buffalo under its “paiwi” contract in 2015. It served as his personal turning point in life. It provided him the opportunity of venturing from subsistence sugarcane farming to buffalo dairying along with the other “lucky” co-farmers in his area.

But for his other colleagues, the venture didn’t sit well. Weariness and discouragement set in for them. They surrendered their buffalo when they saw their animals were not getting pregnant.

Zosimo, unlike the others, didn’t give up. His reasoning: “No pain, no gain”. He was right. Due to his persistence, diligence and hard work, he became the last man standing, the only farmer in his area enjoying the benefits of buffalo dairying.

Zosimo, when asked about his very reason for joining the program, said he is optimistic that buffalo dairying is the key for poverty alleviation. He happened to know about the PCC’s program and its advantages while listening to a radio program.

Zosimo, however, admitted that buffalo raising is indeed an arduous venture particularly in an area like his. There is no supply of electricity which can expedite some works to be carried out. He had to manually fetch water for the animals’ drink and for cleaning the pen.

Armed with the refusal to fail in his venture, he patiently took care of his animals, understood well their needs, and listened to those who had succeeded in buffalo dairying. To date, he has 10 caracows, three calves and one bull.

His records indicated that from the time his animal started to give the expected yield, he has already earned a gross income of approximately Php837,000 from the sales of 15,000 liters of milk. Due to his gains, he was able to finance the educational needs of his children, convert their firewood stove into gas stove, purchase a generator set for the needed electric power for lighting and washing machine, and buy a milking machine worth Php52,000.

The main reason, he said, why he bought a generator set is for the operation of his milking machine. He uses it as he is milking his buffaloes twice a day. He sells his collected milk at Php60 per liter to PCC@CMU.

In 2018, his income ranged from Php40,000 to Php50,000 a month while his total expenses amounted to only Php15,000.

Married to Grace, and a father of five, his livelihood has improved a lot compared to the time when he was engaged in sugarcane farming and serving as a helper to someone else’s farm, and in raising a few pigs. His income then wasn’t certainly enough to support the needs of his family.

But now, through his dairy enterprise and the improved income he is getting from it, he is able to enjoy a much easier life – which is his gain from his pains.