Bantog buffalo milk. Helping farmers help themselves

dmmmsuASINGAN, PANGASINAN - Sunday, 25 September 2011, at 1400 hours, I am with the 7 Vet Med students from the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMSU) in La Union Province who have just finished their practicum at the individual buffalo farms of members of the Bantog Coop led by Modesto "Modi" Gabriel.

The 7 are: Jonathan Cariaga, Edmar Cardaño, Cherry Mae Castillo, Jenny Ruth Catabay, Cristy Caoile, Catherine Lobrete, and Marie Claire Cablac. The natural leader turned out to be Jonathan; the first 3 are Seniors, the rest Juniors. They were sent to the Bantog Coop by their professor, Dr Elizabeth P Galaraga whom they fondly call Doc Aga. She has heard about the success of this coop in raising imported buffalos for milk production. They were very thankful of their hands-on experience.

It is their 3rd and last day; I just happen to be visiting my hometown and I learned about it only today through Neneng Manuel. Modi asks them to share their experience and impressions of the Bantog buffalo milk project, and their common declaration is that they learned a lot, among other things: how to milk a live buffalo by hand - every one of them had the real hands-on experience. They were lectured on by farmers on how to grow Napier grass, and shown how to process milk. They were also shown how to do their own vermiculture by Neneng.

Modi challenged the Vet Med visitors from La Union: "'Wag ninyo akong tularan. Higitan ninyo ako." Don't imitate me - outshine me. He was especially challenging Jonathan to outdo what he has done with the Bantog Coop (full name: Bantog Samahang Nayon Multi-Purpose Cooperative).
They were holding their last (wrap-up) session at the milk processing lab of the Bantog Coop about 2 km away from the town proper of Asingan. The building is newly constructed, 100% finished, but the milk processing facilities worth some PhP 6 M are not yet in place. They have a little problem raising funds to pay for the 1,000 sq m property where the lab has been built. It is within the Jamias Family property.

Governor Amado Espino Jr himself has visited the Bantog Coop and I have reported on that visit (see my "Ranjit & Donita. When Gov Amado Espino came to town," 16 April 2011, Dati, Gawat, blogspot.com). Board Member Ranjit Ramos Shahani has visited the same; he is, after all, from Asingan and has pledged financial support. In fact, it was his mother former Senator Letecia Ramos Shahani who had the bright idea of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) bringing the milk buffalos to Asingan and assigning the animals to the Bantog Coop.

I have seen enough and heard enough of the Bantog Coop buffalo dairy project to say it is very successful. This is also to the credit of Gloria dela Cruz, Region 1 Director of the PCC, whose passion for the project to succeed I have witnessed.

There are financial problems, and I hope these are resolved soon. The municipal council of Asingan, particularly Mayor Heidi Chua and Vice Mayor Eleanor Viray are trying to help as much as they can, but the farmers have to help themselves too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Memories: 100 Years Of The College Coop

Image
COLLEGE, LAGUNA: UP Los Baños has a beautiful campus. It is here where the College Consumers' Cooperative (College Coop) was born. Is it here where it is going to die this year? Historically, the Coop was the very first consumers' coop founded in the Philippines. The date: 20 October 1916. Somehow, this repeated history elsewhere, as the very first cooperative in the world was a consumers' cooperative founded in England in 1844 ( zadruga.obz.hr ). That is why the Coop is celebrating its 100th year this 2016. In fact, the cooperative movement in the Philippines arrived with the Americans at the beginning of their occupation of the islands (Jo Balucanag-Bitonio, 12 July 2012, slideshare.net ). Cooperatives were advocacies of the missionary and religious groups and programs of government agencies designed to help the people especially in the rural areas. It was Commonwealth Act 2508 (Agriculture Credit Association Act) that provided regulations for the creation of cooperatives
Read more

Mar Roxas: Father Of The Philippine BPO Industry

Image
MANILA: According to you, John Paolo Bencito & Christine Herrera, "BPO Industry pioneer: Gloria, not Mar, did it" (08 March 2016,  Manila Standard Today,  manilastandardtoday.com ). Hmm, gentleman & lady, sorry to say but you have 2 errors there.  1st error, grammatical:  The word "pioneer" is used here as a noun, not a verb, so it should read, "BPO Industry pioneer: Gloria was it, not Mar."  2nd error, factual:  In fact, Mar Roxas was the pioneer, not GMA. In fact, your  own  report of 575 words, excluding title and authors, proves my contention!  A fish is caught by its own mouth. I will now quote the relevant portions of your report: Administration candidate Manuel Roxas II insisted on Saturday that he was the "Father of the IT-BPO sector," but an industry pioneer disputed the claim and said the credit should go to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Speaking before a group of call center agents in Muntinlupa City,
Read more

GABRIELA is scandalized by Asingan Bikini Open

Image
MANILA: I am from Asingan in eastern Pangasinan; male, I am scandalized that "Gabriela criticizes Pangasinan LGU for town fiesta bikini open" (09 April 2016,  GABRIELA Women's Party,  gabrielawomensparty.net ). I learned that on Facebook. I am not going to allow Gabriela to go scot free for the story that insinuates that Asingan alone is scandalous as far as women are concerned. The above image is my screen capture from ItVideo ( itvideo.me ), which says the images are from the Asingan Bikini Open of 2015. The vlogger says, "This is Asingan's hottest show, so hot that the audience were furiously fanning themselves!" I say that that is an exaggeration, because the climate of Asingan is really hot during summer, and the town fiesta is held in early April. "Bikini Open" means contestants can come from any town or city in the Philippines, even from abroad, Balikbayan, not that the bikini is "open" for everyone to see. ItVideo abov
Read more