Dairy carabao farming lifting farmers' lives in Ilocos Norte town

HOUSE THAT CARABAO MILK BUILT. Members of the Timpuyog De San Marcelino Sustainable Livelihood Program Association Inc. pose for a photo in front of the house of their co-member, Edelberto Reyes Jr., in this undated photo. Reyes built his house through savings from carabao milk production. Lei Adriano

By Leilanie Adriano

DINGRAS, Ilocos Norte—A remote farming village here is not yet bidding goodbye to the carabao amid farm mechanization, as improved breeds can still bring more rewards than expected.

Such is the case for at least 25 small farmers in Brgy. San Marcelino in this rice granary town of Ilocos Norte who are now reaping the benefits of dairy carabao farming.

"First, I was skeptical. Who would think that a carabao can build me a house of my own?" said Edelberto Reyes Jr., a member of the Timpuyog De San Marcelino Sustainable Livelihood Program Association Inc. and a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a conditional cash transfer program of the national government aimed at eradicating extreme poverty.

Reyes's success story began when he was entrusted with a dairy breed-type carabao by the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) in 2022. Since then, the carabao has given birth twice, enabling him to earn an average income of PHP4,000 a week.

In a recent interview, Reyes said that through dairy farming, he was able to save in a bank and use the money to build his home in the middle of a rice field where clean and abundant water flows freely from the irrigation canal.

His two-bedroom domicile may just be ordinary for others, but to him, it is a testament to his hard work, patience, and perseverance to achieve his goal.

A solo parent to four growing children, Reyes used to stay with his parents until he moved to his new house.

Reyes' story inspired other small farmers and 4Ps beneficiaries to engage in carabao milk production and vermicomposting. With a seed capital of PHP460,200 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and a total of PHP1,110,000 from the PCC, the Timpuyog De San Marcelino Sustainable Livelihood Program Association Inc. is now on the process of scaling up their livelihood to promote zero hunger and alleviate poverty one bag of milk at a time.

Other members of the association are now graduates of 4Ps after their economic status improved and their children finished a college degree.

"We are so grateful for the program. For 10 years, we have been under the 4Ps program where we were taught how to become self-sufficient," Lilibeth Ganitano, a mother of four in Barangay San Marcelino, said in a separate interview.

Ganitano’s two elder daughters are now gainfully employed in Metro Manila, while her remaining two children are still in school.

Reynaldo Gaoiran and her wife Norilyn, meanwhile, are also excited every day to collect milk from their carabao "Narda," which has just given birth to a healthy male calf.

For Reynaldo, taking care of "Narda" and collecting her milk is a lot better than rice farming, noting that buying agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides is more costly.

According to the PCC, developed crossbreeds tend to have higher capacity to produce milk, better growth, and more meat without lessening the animals' draft ability.

To date, the PCC is buying the local dairy production of the smallholder farmers every Friday, in addition to the provision of freezer to aid in the proper storage of milk products.

The commission has also committed 50 more heads to boost dairy farming in the province.

The local government unit of Dingras, led by Mayor Joemelle Go Sy, has also expressed support to the project to ensure its sustainability and make San Marcelino as the model barangay in carabao dairy farming.

"Dingras is blessed to have been chosen for this project. Thank you to the support of government and private agencies, especially the DSWD and the PCC for this transformative program to uplift the lives of our constituents," Sy said.