YOUNG FARMER FINDS ‘GOLD’ IN BUFFALO DAIRYING

One of the crucial goals of the DA is for the country to be food self-sufficient. But, it is difficult to achieve this goal if the country’s youths wouldn’t engage and disregard the clarion call for delving themselves in agriculture. Happily, we can find some youths who are fond of farming.

One of them is Moises Alfonso, 25. He finds dairy farming as a lucrative business.

He is fascinated by the fact that his income in his venture is much higher than those engaged in white-collar jobs. Aside from buffalo dairying, he also participates in his family’s rice farming works.

“We earn around Php2,000 to Php4,000 a day from selling our buffalo’s milk,” he disclosed. That earnings translate to Php60,000 to Php120,000 a month.

Moises finished Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation but he opted to manage his family’s business in buffalo dairying.

“Our earnings from buffalo dairying are certainly much bigger than the salary of a crew member in a shipping line,” he said.

Since his high school days, he used to help his late father, Carlito, one of the award-winning PCCassisted dairy farmers, in their farm in barangay Sibut, San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

With the help of his older brother Herson, he gradually learned the nuances in dairy buffalo farming.

In 2012, his father got sick and wasn’t able to manage their farm anymore. Moises’ mother initially took on the responsibility of managing their farm until it was passed on to him after his graduation from college.

Moises has since been managing the farm that expanded to about 50 buffaloes. Their milk harvest, owing to the application of the right technologies, has always been excellent.

“There are times when we harvest 60 liters of milk a day,” he said.

Moises recalled that before his family was able to have the kind of life they have now, it was always punctured by difficulties and tough times. Onion farming was the first thing Moises’ parents tried but the income from it was not sufficient.

“We used to live in a nipa hut and my father was a tenant in other farmers’ farm in our village. We had to borrow money to be able to provide for the family’s basic needs,” Moises recalled.

Her mother, Julieta, attested that their difficult life goaded them to work harder in order to improve their status in life.

“Gradually, we were able to save money until we were able to pay our debts and buy some pieces of farmland,” Julieta said.

In 2007, when they heard of the ventures in buffalo farming, they invested their money in it. They borrowed a number of buffaloes from PCC and dedicated their time and effort in buffalo dairying and, as if in a fairy tale, good fortune smiled on them.

Now that the business is in Moises’ hands, he wants to double the number of his buffaloes.

“I want our farm to become one of the biggest dairy buffalo farms in Nueva Ecija,” he said.

But for now, since feedstuff is crucial to the success of his business, he, with the help of other family members, is concentrating on the propagation of improved forage grasses so that when his dream of having 100 buffaloes is realized, it won’t be problematic feeding them anymore.

“I want to encourage my fellow Filipino youths to try buffalo dairying, as it is not that burdensome contrary to what they may perceive,” Moises said.

He added that aside from the fact that buffalo farming brings high income for the persons and families engaged in it, its contribution and importance in the country’s agricultural industry cannot be underestimated.

“As many of our country’s farmers are aging, the country depends on us to continue what they have started,” he said.

He shared that majority of middle-class families in their area started out as farmers. Thus, his advice is: “It’s okay to start with small investments as it can lead to big improvements. In fact, most of the thriving businesses started off with small capital. Their owners prospered because of diligence and perseverance.”