‘Organic’ native chicken

Sturdy and delicious, as borne out by researches, native chicken has become one of the strong pillars of the local poultry industry.

Consider: The local chicken population as of January 2005 was 136 million. Of this, about 60 percent are native/improved chickens.

These figures become more appreciated when one considers that the native fowls are at best "self-supporting".

As found by the UP Los Baños Institute of Animal Science (UPLB-IAS), almost 75 percent of the native chickens’ feed requirements are obtained from the range. Feed supplements provided are in the form of grains (rice, corn), chopped meat, or kitchen discards.

Because native chickens are allowed to wander freely and scavenge for all or most of their food, the production cost for raising Philippine native chicken is very minimal, pointed out UPLB-IAS professor Angel L. Lambio.

Thus, he added, native chickens and their upgrades, whether raised under scavenge-based system or free-range system, can very well be regarded as "organically produced."

Lambio discussed "Organikong pagpapadami ng native chicken" at a recent technology forum sponsored by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).

The native chicken production system was one of mature technologies that have been assessed as "commerciable" discussed at the forum.

UPLB-IAS studies have noted that native chickens are adapted to local conditions and utilize traditional feeds (insects, earthworms, grains, kitchen discards, succulent leaves, and buds) coming from the farm itself.

"No synthetic drugs are given except vaccines," it stated.

The raising of organic native chicken can be integrated with other crops and livestock production systems, Lambio said.

The UPLB-IAS animal scientist added that the meat and eggs should be sold as organic food and should command a premium price compared to the same products coming from commercial exotic chickens. – Rudy A. Fernandez