Close of 300 dairy farmers in Nueva Ecija and neighboring areas availed of yet another opportunity to acquire additional knowledge and technical know-how on various useful technologies during the Farmers’ Field Day (FFD) conducted on March 27 at the National Headquarters and Gene Pool of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
The FFD was one of the major highlights of the observance of PCC’s 21st founding anniversary, which revolved around the theme: “Leading a Noble Paradigm: Research for Development.”
The field day was intended to promote the continuing collaboration among the agency’s front-liners, researchers and PCC-assisted dairy farmers in addressing concerns in dairying and providing clearer understanding on how to improve the farmers’ productivity and income.
The resource persons and their respective presentations during the technology demonstrations were: Dr. Daniel Aquino, gene pool and nutrition unit head, for Total Mix Ration-Making (TMR); Isagani Cajucom, chairman of CBE Foundation, for silage-making; Herminia Mallari, chairwoman of Kapitbahayan sa A. Mabini Producers Cooperative, for Urea-Treated Rice Straw-Making (UTRS); Arman Lopez, Village-Based Artificial Insemination Technician (VBAIT) and chairman of Aglipay Multi-Purpose Cooperative, for actual heat detection; Leoncio Callo, chairman of Catalanacan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, for proper milking and milk handling; and Mylyn Espiritu, Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Team (PMET) member of Kapitbahayan sa A. Mabini Producers Cooperative, for vermi-composting.
A total of 164 farmer-participants from Nueva Ecija, which is the National Impact Zone (NIZ) of the Carabao Development Program, and 114 from the Regional Impact Zones (RIZ), attended the learning sessions. They were subdivided into six groups in accordance with the six techno-demonstrations.
“The field day was really intended for farmers like us and it helped us a lot. I gained additional knowledge, especially on animal nutrition. The new members in the co-op also acquired knowledge on the different technologies demonstrated to them by our speakers,” Melchor Correa, chairman of Eastern Multi-Purpose Cooperative, said.
The open forum that followed the technology demonstrations provided the opportunity for the participants to raise their concerns and to clarify matters relevant to the technologies discussed and demonstrated.
