AGRIBUSINESS POTENTIALS FOR ILOILO: Native Chickens Production

 “Western Visayas alone needs between 2,000 to 3,000 heads of native chickens every day and more during the peak months starting November to May each year and the supply at most is just a fraction of this demand”, says Dr. Jaime Cabarles, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Central Philippine University.

That is why those who specialize in “native lechon manok” can't get enough supply of live native chickens. The price of native lechon manok is almost twice that of the ordinary broiler chicken lechon. Yet the demand for this Ilonggo delicacy continues to grow because of its unique taste. Native chickens have a higher concentration of the taste enhancing and naturally occurring amino acids called glutamic acid and aspartic acid, according to Mr. George Roxas and Mr. Ray Arenga, the key men in the Darag Native Chicken Program of the West Visayas State University.

Native chickens are those which are said to be indigenous or endemic to a specific location, in this case, the country. Since the country is archipelagic, there are many kinds of native chickens in the country, mostly region-based. So the native chickens in the Visayas cluster of islands are generally called “Bisaya” while those in Southern Luzon are called Tagalog but those in the Bicol Region are called differently.

But the area of origin is not significant in terms of the basic interest by which these types of chickens are raised. Native chickens are hardy, thrive on feeds which they can forage and find in the vicinity and on whatever the farmers will be able to provide. The most important consideration by which native chickens are preferred by consumers is the distinct flavor of the native chickens compared to the broiler chickens that has become familiar among consumers. The latter is raised in just 30 days or less where it has already reached the market size of 1.2 kilograms. At 30 days old when slaughtered, the meat of the broiler chicken tastes bland compared to the more flavorful native chicken which reaches about 800 grams at 3 to 4 months (90-120 days) of age.

The demand for native chickens continues to grow due to shifting trends such as growing awareness for healthy food, antibiotic free food and for unique dishes endemic to a specific area. The growth in regional tourism has also helped increase demand. Native chicken lechon is a tourism destination in itself where tourists flock to the popular restaurants serving this unique lechon in Iloilo City. Each municipality in the Province of Iloilo has also their own unique way of cooking native chicken like the Tinuom of Cabatuan, the Linabugan of Calinog and Bingawan and the Alumpirang Manok of Dingle. The common denominator in these dishes is the young native chicken slaughtered at about 120 days old where experts claim that it is the best age where the flavor enhancing amino acids have the highest concentration.

“We cannot raise enough native chickens to meet existing and much more, future demand. Even now that we are concentrating on the endemic chicken of Western Visayas, the Darag”, said George Roxas. The name is derived from the color of the hen which is similar to the dried leaves on the ground. This color had been developed by the wild chickens as a means to camouflage so that they won't be easily detected by predators. The darag chicken like the other endemic chickens of other regions have the same characteristics which make it a highly favored strain. “However the inflow of exotic breeds imported to supposedly improve the size and other characters perceived to improve production had somehow diluted or reduced some of the characters which had made the darag a desired breed”. The same intrusion of these exotic breed has also impaired the once wide genetic pool and had therefore limited the source of desired individuals which can be made into parent line for the breed. “We regularly going around the region looking for outstanding specimens of the darag chickens so that we can build up our genetic pool as a means to further improve the breed. Our gene pool in three locations, namely one at the main campus of the WVSU and two at the Calinog campus assures us of genetically strong individuals which we think can help us sustain our genetic requirements for mass production in the coming years. However, we still have to sustain our efforts so that we will not run out of individuals which will sustain our need for strong parent lines in the future”.

Due to the information campaign not only by the school but also by other government agencies, the attention on the darag chicken has perked up in recent years. More and more farmers have started producing this strain and the demand for chicks of true to type parent lines have increased. We have a long list of customers and clients who have ordered chicks for commercial operation and our production system cannot meet the demand right now, said Mr. Arenga.

The opportunity areas for native chickens are many but for now, the most imperative are the supply of breeders or parent lines and the commercial aspect of young broiler age at 0 to 120 days old. “Those who have availed of our strain the last three or four years should be in the position to grow and supply commercial grade chicks which can be grown for the meat market. Those who also know how to breed and maintain the purity of their breeds should also focus on producing breeders for sale to other farmers who are interested to get into the segment. Mr. Roxas estimates the demand for breeders to run to several thousands and only a small percentage can be met at this point.

Another growth direction is the supply of organic or naturally grown chickens. The trend for healthier food has given birth to the demand for organically or naturally grown food and this is also true for chickens and other livestock. Growing chickens the organic and natural way may be difficult but not impossible. Ms. Soljane Capague, a technical personnel at the Iloilo Provincial Agriculture Office, says that the Natural Farming System developed by Japanese and Korean scientists offer farmers an alternative and safe way to raise chickens. It also teaches farmers how to use indigenous plants for feed and to strengthen the immune system of chickens to resist attacks of diseases as well as control ecto and endo parasites. These indigenous plants can be planted and produced right on the farm or backyard of the farmers.

The natural farming system also teaches farmers to harness beneficial microorganisms to help them out in their farming efforts. Concoctions like Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO), fermented fruit juice, fermented plant juice and others have specific purposes in the overall system which will enable the farmer not only to grow healthy chickens but save much on feeds and veterinary medicines which comprise up to 70% of the cost of production.

Under the natural farming system, it is estimated that it will cost the farmer about P75.00 to grow a chicken from chick to marketable size. With commercial feeds, the cost is much higher at P110.00. Therefore if the farmer sells at P140.00 per head, he earns more per head using the natural system than growing his chickens on commercial feeds.

Prices per head of native chicken varies per season. During the peak season where demand is high, native chickens sell for as high as P180.00 per head while it goes down to as low as P80.00 during off-peak particularly during enrollment and rainy months when the priorities of people center on school fees and other essential expense areas.

“The demand for native chickens may never be met unless we have a definite program which involves all actors, from government to financial institutions, and most important of all- farmers who would develop commercial level operations that can assure consistent supply of both slaughter and breeder native chickens.