By Dominic B. dela Cruz (Staff Reporter)
Piddig, Ilocos
Norte—"What we did was like hitting two birds with one stone”, Piddig Mayor
Eduardo “Eddie” G. Guillen said in their effort to help his constituents as the
pandemic rages and to help local hog raisers as the African swine fever now
also threatens the province.
“Ta ngamin ginatang mi
dagitay baboy dagiti kailian min ta awan met aggatangen tapnu matulungan mi
isuda a mai-dispose and at the same time
matulungan mi pay dagiti kakailian mi ta maparti dagitoy ket maibunong para
kadagiti amin nga households ti ili a
Piddig,” Guillen explained.
The mayor also disclosed that he is monitoring with the
Provincial Veterinary Office on the ASF situation in his town and their
neighboring areas.
He added that since Piddig is ASF-free, he decided to help local
hog raisers here by buying their hogs and adding them to relief packs, which
they also distributed to local residents.
Aside from the pork meat, each household will also receive 1 kilo
of rice, and their respective barangays will provide additional rice and
grocery items.
The Ilocos Times learned
that the hogs cost the municipal government PHP900,000, which they sourced from
the calamity fund.
Guillen stressed that the Commission on Audit (COA) has allowed
the said purchase.
“Tapnu saan kamin to
mabigbigla iti kaadda ti ASF kada
bird flu, the municipal government of Piddig now focuses on livestock for
cow/cattle production,” Guillen also revealed.
For this year, the municipal government distributed 20 cows and
77 carabaos to farmers.
The mayor also stated that they will also artificially inseminate
local farmers’ cows here with “Wagyu”, a Japanese cattle breed.
Guillen stated that they will produce an estimated 2,000 Wagyu
cows annually. Wagyu cows cost from PHP30,000 to PHP50,000.
The project, the mayor further expounded, is a convergence
project between the Piddig government, the Dept. of Agriculture, the Animal
Bureau Industry and the Dept. of the Environment and Natural Resources.
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