Coop eyes biz prospects in raising native chicken

Because of its low operation cost and high return of investments, raising native chicken is deemed by a cooperative as a viable opportunity for farmers to augment their monthly income.

As the demand for organic products rises, the market demand for free-range chicken more commonly referred to as native chicken or "manok bisaya" has been generating higher demand as well, said Cebu Integrated Multipurpose Cooperative (CIFMPC) board of director Douglas Torrefiel in an interview.

CIFMPC recently held a seminar on the proper methods in commercially raising free range native chicken at the Department of Agriculture compound.

The seminar tackled major diseases and prevention techniques in raising native chicken as well topics on nutrition, management and breeding methods.

The seminar aimed to address the common problem faced by farmers, which is the lack of technical knowledge regarding the proper management and raising methods of native chicken especially on disease prevention and control, Torrefiel said.

He, however said, there is a need for farmers to group themselves together to successfully jumpstart a native chicken industry and this way they can easily market their produce to major supermarket and groceries in the city.

“Karon, dako kaayo ang demand sa native chicken sa mga super markets kay lahi man kini og kalidad sa white chicken (commercial breeds). Taas ang demand og taas pud ang presyo kada kilo (Now there is a great demand for native chicken in super markets because it has a different quality compared to white chicken. The demand is high as well as its price per kilo), Torrefiel said.

The selling price in the market for native chicken averages around P180 to P190 per kilo while white chicken is only P90 to P100 per kilo, Torrefiel said.

This high demand and high selling price are the major reasons the cooperative held a seminar on raising free-range chicken to encourage farmers to look into the brighter prospect of this industry.

He said that compared to white chicken, raising native chicken would not require huge investment because with a minimal amount of P10, 000 a farmer can already raise and breed 10 adult male and 10 female stocks whereas white chicken would require an average of P50, 000 capital for raising 100 chicks for start-up.

“Raising native chicken is very profitable because of lesser operational expenses. You need not build a chicken house because they are free range and you need not buy expensive feeds because they feed on greens,” he said.

Breeder stocks can be bought at backyard farmers and even from the DA which are sold at P15 for a day old chick, said DA’s Agricultural Center Chief from the Livestock Division Oliver C. Patlingrao.

He added that DA is supportive in endeavours of farmers to augment their livelihood by providing technical assistance and trainings to interested farmers as well as developing vaccines to control diseases and avian pests and also offer incubation services to help develop the industry. —Rhia de Pablo