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Livestock production for family enhancement

Bohol GOV. Erico Aumentado Monday urged the Boholanos to work doubly hard to further improve livestock production.

This with the inauguration Monday of the Catigbian Livestock Auction Center (CLAC) – the newest, biggest and most modern in the whole Visayas.

“Today will go down in Bohol’s history because the operationalization of the biggest livestock auction center in the entire Visayas spells new opportunities for farmers who, for so long a time, have been at the mercy of middlemen,” the governor said during the inaugural program timed to coincide with Catigbian’s market day.

The complex has a ramp where carabao, cattle and goats go down from the ferrying trucks and on to a digital scale. The livestock’s weight automatically flashes on an electronic board at the auction center.

While waiting for buyers, the animals are tethered in any one of 60 stalls in three buildings, or fed at the forage area. The complex has a big parking area and comfort rooms with water.

Aumentado said the production in the whole of Bohol can still be accommodated at the livestock center, hence the encouragement to farmers to produce more, especially with the implementation of the P37.6-million Livelihood Integrated for Food and Family Enhancement (LIFFE) for Boholanos project.

Of the amount, the Heifer Project International-Philippines funds P17.8 million. The provincial and municipal governments counterpart a total P19.7 million for the livestock, chicken and duck dispersal project with training and revolving fund components.

The latter provides capital for project partners who may want to engage in small businesses and enterprises.

Partners are required to give back to the group an offspring for dispersal or “passing on of the gift” to other members.

Meanwhile, Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz, provincial veterinarian said Bohol is a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)-free province. As such, Bohol can export livestock anytime.

She said the CLAC has gone a long way from the original that was one of only 35 the late President Ferdinand Marcos decreed to be established nationwide in 1975.

As a complement to the project, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) launched on the same day the rehabilitation of the Baang-Liboron-Triple Union farm-to-market road to make the hauling of livestock easier.

The P20.7-million 6.6-kilometer road forms part of the Agrarian Reform Community Development Program 2 (ARCDP 2) funded by the World Bank with counterparts from the municipal and beneficiary barangay governments.

Still complementing the auction center is the Farmer’s Information and Technology Service (FITS) Center launched the same day. It serves as a one-stop service facility nearest to the majority of farmers, entrepreneurs and other clients. It provides fast access to information and technologies in forms appropriate to the clients’ needs.

Still another project that a visibly elated Mayor Roberto Salinas took pride in having been able to bring to Catigbian is providing school buildings for the Mantacida National High School.

Published on Oct 15, 2006 by The Bohol Standard Newspaper

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