Agriculture Business Week

The Philippine Carabao Center(PCC) celebrated its 14th anniversary last March 30 and honored its most outstanding center and employee as well as the country’s best dairy farmer, dairy coop, and dairy carabao of the year.

PCC at UP Los Banos and Rosalina M. Lapitan were singled out as the most outstanding center and employee, respectively. Other awardees are Anastacio Millar of Tulong, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, best dairy farmer; Aglipay Dairy Producers Cooperative in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, best dairy co-op; and a carabao of Venus Eduarte of San Jose City, best dairy cow. The all-women Angat Buhay Producers Multi-Purpose Cooperative was conferred the Hall of Fame after being the best dairy co-op in the last three years.

Led by its director, Dr. Arnel del Barrio, PCC at UPLB maintains impact zones in Laguna and Cavite, covering 11 municipalities and cities. In collaboration with the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College, Department of Agriculture regional field unit, office of the provincial veterinarian, and local government units, PCC implements the carabao upgrading program through estrus synchronization and artificial insemination in 43 municipalities and cities in Region 4, and 7 municipalities in Region 5.

In 2006 alone, 1,028 carabaos were artificially inseminated, while. 83 crossbred calves were produced. Likewise 36 purebred bulls were given as loans to individual farmers, 33 in Region 4. and 3 in Region 5. Used for natural breeding, 160 purebred bulls have been loaned out to farmers since 1997, 125 in Region 4 and 35 in Region 5.

PCC at UPLB has established five dairy co-ops – Tanza Dairy Farmers Multi-Purpose Co-op (MPC), General Trias Dairy Raisers MPC, Imus Dairy MPC, Pagsanta Dairy Co-op in Pagsanjan, Laguna, and Naic Farmers’ MPC. From 44 members, Gentri Dairy Raisers MPC now has 78 members with 430 dairy buffalos producing at least 100 liters of milk a day. The milk is processed by the co-op’s kitchen-type processing facility. Through the center, Congressman Gilbert Remulla provided funds to purchase 18 dairy cows for three co-ops.

The center has also helped the co-ops in seeking assistance from donors. For instance, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), through former senator Leticia Shahani’s White Revolution Foundation, provided P250,000 for a special project in the Gentri Dairy Raisers MPC. Each of the nine members who received a dairy buffalo in return will give back one female offspring, which will be loaned out again to other members.

The center and the White Revolution Foundation also convinced Congressman Benjamin Agarao to provide P1 million from his priority development fund to purchase dairy cows and bulls for farmers in Sta. Cruz and Lumban, Laguna to augment the dwindling milk supply for the province’s kesong puti industry. The Rotary Club of Laguna and Rotary International have also provided funds for the ROTAGRILIFE Project, which provided 45 buffalo mestizo to farmers in Sta. Cruz, Pagsanjan, and Lumban.

Lapitan may very well be considered the “superwoman” of PCC, as she performs various roles at the same time – researcher, resource person in the center’s extension activities, collecting and disbursing officer, and organization man.

She has published 54 papers, either as senior or junior author, and has been a contributor in five books. Majority of her papers focused on the development of appropriate supplementation and feeding systems to improve growth and productivity of ruminants, particularly the carabao.

Among her significant contributions in ruminant nutrition are: improving the feeding value of agricultural crop residues like rice straw, corn stover, etc.; formulation and testing of ureamolasses-mineral block (UMMB) as protein/energy/mineral supplement for buffalo; utilization of various legume forages for buffalos and; establishing baseline information on the metabolic profile of buffalos at different physiological status, which will be useful in refining the feeding system.

During the last three years, her studies in collaboration with Japanese scientists have shown that crossbred buffalo can perform better in terms of feed intake and weight gain when fattened at the same age. Also through her studies, the fattening technology for crossbred buffalo was established.

She is also instrumental in refining the procedures of making carabao milk products like white cheese, pastillas de leche, yogurt and milk-o-gel that are acceptable to consumers.

Despite her research and extension activities, she has doubled up as collecting and disbursing officer of PCC since 1994. In 2006 alone, she collected more than P1.7 million from the sales of milk and milk products plus P125,000 from the sale of meat.

On the other hand, the dairy cow of Eduarte is an outstanding milk producer as shown by her milk yields: second lactation period, 2,118.2 liters; third lactation period, 2,135.7 liters; and fourth lactation period, 2,562.5 liters. There was no record for its first lactation period..