Native chicken R&D program launched

Expect better times for the country’s native chicken industry.

Basis for this optimistic projection is the launch last January off the three-year "S&T Anchor Program for Philippine Native Chicken."

The project is coordinated by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) headed by Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon. It is funded by DOST, PCARRD, DA Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), DA-Region 6, and Western Visayas State University (WVSU) in Iloilo City.

Implementing agencies are WVSU, UP Visayas, Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (WESVARRDEC), local government units (LGUs), and the private sector.

Beneficiaries are smallhold native chicken growers, traders and poultry meat processors, and product distributors in Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Negros Occidental, and Guimaras.

The program aims to develop a stable native chicken (Darag) strain of better production performance while maintaining its inherent product quality and adaptability to local environmental conditions. Moreover, it will organize production and marketing systems and enhance commercialization of native chicken.

Native chicken at present is not bred for quantit but for quality. Fact is, native chicken is tastier than the commercial broilers, as found in a study done by Marites Ramil of PCARRD.

As of 2003, the Philippines had a chicken population of 128 million, 56 percent of which were native and improved (mixed) strains) chickens. – RAF