Backyard cattle production has helped earn income for 72 housewives from three municipalities in Antique. The funding came from the Gender and Development (GAD) program of the Provincial Veterinary (ProVet) Office, targeting stay-at-home mothers to help augment family income. Luela Furio, ProVet GAD focal person, said in an interview Friday that they started the cattle production project in Antique in 2019 with the dispersal of heifers to 14 members of the Rural Improvement Club (RIC) in Tobias Fornier. ‘The project has the objective to provide an opportunity for women to engage in cattle breeding so they could augment their family income,’ she said. The recipients who were chosen with the help of the Municipal Agriculture Office received one cattle each. From an initial 14 beneficiaries, there are now 42 women who are engaged in raising cattle in Tobias Fornier since the mother cow is being transferred to another recipient once its offspring turns eight months. The offspring becomes the property of the first beneficiary, who has the option to either sell it or have it exchanged for another cattle heifer to breed. A head of cattle assures the beneficiary of sure income since the market price of 250 kilos live weight is now at PHP30,000. One year after its successful implementation in Tobias Fornier, ProVet expanded the project to the municipalities of Anini-y and Patnongon where 10 cattle were dispersed in each town. ‘There are now 18 cattle in the town of Anini-y and 12 heads in Patnongon from the initial 10 cattle we distributed to each town in 2020 and 2022,’ Furio said. This year, they target women beneficiaries in Belison and Hamtic in 2024. ‘The cattle production project is not so costly for the beneficiaries only have to look for a pasture where their farm animals could feed,’ Furio said.
Source: Philippines News Agency