BANAUE, Ifugao – The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVET) and Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) trained 36 households of Barangay Cambulo of this town on duck-raising in line with the efforts to uplift the families’ living conditions.
PVET training coordinator Ferdinand Dunuan said through the training, they hope to transfer the knowledge and technology of raising ducks so that the households will have source of nutritious food and livelihood.
Duck-raising has been identified as one of the interventions not only for income generation but also for food security since it can serve as a multipurpose breed. A duck can lay 70 to 120 eggs and can also provide quality meat for the families’ protein requirements.
The participants from one of the 15 barangay beneficiaries of the Integrated Area Development Assistance Program (IADAP) in the province were taught how to choose duck breeds; housing, care, and management; feeds and feeding; diseases of ducks; and feed-making using rice bran, crack corn, starter feeds, and local feed sources.
The IADAP was conceptualized because of the findings of the National Statistics Coordinating Board in 2012 of the high incidence of poverty, low percentage of households with sanitary facilities, high percentage of households without access to safe water supply, and prevalence of infant mortality rate and child mortality.
The program also aims to assist the poorest households meet the poverty indicator underscored in the Community-Based Monitoring System and provide the necessary interventions to alleviate their economic situation. – Daniel B. Codamon
