CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: The provincial veterinary office of Misamis Oriental is distributing 5,000 “ready to lay”’ (RTL) ducks to hog raisers as the African Swine Fever (ASF) has continued to infect more towns in Misamis Oriental.
Provincial Veterinarian Benjie Resma said Monday that tne dreaded ASF was detected recently in the towns of Tagolo-an, Villanueva, Balingasag and Talisayan, all eastern towns in Misamis Oriental.
He said that about 5,000 RTL ducks, are to be initially distributed to 15 farmers who were validated as qualified for duck raising in the hard hit ASF towns in Misanis Oriental’s west coast.
Each of the 15 validated farmers are entitled to 50 RTL ducks where the eggs are sold in the market in a form of “balot,” a boiled 16 to 18 day egg prior to hatching, considered by the Filipinos as “aphrodisiac.”
Resma said that the provincial government will assist in the marketing of the duck eggs as an alternative source of income to farmers affected by the ASF.
He said that not all farmers would qualify for the RTL duck raising because of the criteria set in the validation like the area for range ducks, and the availability of water.
The distribution of the RTL ducks was conceptualized to cushion the economic impact of the ASF among farmers in Misamis Oriental whose main source of family income were hog raising, Resma said.
He said that the provincial government has also extended cash assistance to the 607 farmers in the amount of P 3.4 million as compensation to the ASF infected hogs “culled” by the local government . -0-
