Dr. Felomino V. Mamuad, officer in charge of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), has declared that he will do his best in steering the institution toward the attainment of its goal as the lead agency in livestock biotechnology in the Department of Agriculture (DA) network.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala named Dr. Mamuad as PCC’s OIC on January 9, following the retirement from government service of Dr. Libertado C. Cruz, who headed PCC for 20 years.
Prior to his current designation, Dr. Mamuad served as PCC’s deputy executive director.
He stressed that during his stint as the new PCC head, he will fully support further development of the various technologies developed by the PCC scientists and researchers relative to the agency’s genetic improvement program and other matters with bearing on the agency’s major concerns.
He added that the agency will continue to strengthen its linkages and collaboration with local and international organizations in the country and abroad.
With regard to carabao-raising and dairying, he said that PCC will focus on helping farmers provide nutritional intervention for their animals as “nutrition (for the animal) is essential in increasing the productivity of buffaloes for milk, which will eventually lead to higher farmers’ incomes.”
Dr. Mamuad likewise said he will strengthen the operationalization of the feed processing center of PCC at its National Gene Pool.
The processing facility was established in 2004. It is one of the outcomes of the collaboration between PCC and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2001 to 2005.
“I believe that we can lead in processing buffalo feed especially for our institutional herd,” he declared. “We have the facilities, we can do it,” he added.
Dr. Mamuad further said he plans to work on increased production of organic fertilizer and production of biogas out of carabao manure.
“I think biogas, particularly, can help families for their cooking needs and, to some extent, for their lighting needs,” he said.
“I will ensure that PCC continues to work well and develop the technologies and other appropriate measures that can help our dairy farmers improve their lives further,” he assured.
