COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Members of 17 Farmers group in Tawi-Tawi, some of them deportees from Malaysia, benefited from Thursday’s goat dispersal project of the agriculture bureau in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The distribution of 374 goats to farmers was part of the P23 million-worth "halal" goat raising project of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the autonomous region.
The livestock project covers all of the ARMM’s five provinces—Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Makmod Mending, regional secretary of DAF-ARMM, said the offspring of the goats the farmers received will be shared to their neighbors in their farming enclaves to maximize reproduction.
Recipients are prohibited from slaughtering any of the animals for celebration purposes, Mending said.
The animals were dispersed to officials of different farmers’ organizations during a symbolic rite at the compound of DAF-ARMM’s provincial office in Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi.
The event was witnessed by local officials and Numeiry Jalani, who is the ARMM’s assistant secretary for services convergence office for the Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi (Basulta) area.
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