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BJMP, MMSU to teach inmates raise native Bolinao chickens

By Reynaldo Andres

September 17, 2019, 12:48 pm

<p><strong>DEMO PROJECT.</strong> The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) join hands in building a poultry house for the first demonstration project on Bolinao chicken production inside the BJMP compound in Batac City. <em>(Photo courtesy of MMSU Extension Office)</em></p>

DEMO PROJECT. The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) join hands in building a poultry house for the first demonstration project on Bolinao chicken production inside the BJMP compound in Batac City. (Photo courtesy of MMSU Extension Office)

BATAC CITY -- The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in this city have agreed to put up a demonstration project for Bolinao chicken production inside the compound so that inmates would learn how to raise this high-value bird both as recreation and livelihood activity.

Bolinao chicken is an improved breed of the native bird, which has a very high market value in terms of egg and meat production.

The project is under the “Sustainable Production, Marketing and Utilization of Improved Bolinao Native Chicken in the Ilocos Region,” which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology -- Philippine Council on Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD).

As a whole, the Bolinao chicken project in the Ilocos region aims to help empower climate-resilient farmers and animal raisers in various rural communities by providing them technologies and skills in raising this high-value native chicken for commercial production.

Bella Gervacio, chief of MMSU’s Training Services, said the construction of the poultry house started last August inside the BJMP compound at Barangay Magnuang in this city but the dispersal of 20 brood hens and four roosters will be done this October.

She said the livestock will be provided by DOST-PCAARRD and those agencies involved in the Bolinao chicken project in Region 1 such as the faculty-researchers and extension staff from MMSU, Pangasinan State University, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in La Union, and the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.

“This is now the result of the memorandum of agreement that was signed in July this year between the University and the BJMP-Batac,” Gervacio said.

She added that BJMP-Batac was selected as host of the demonstration project in the province because of several positive contributory factors such as its receptiveness in poultry production, space availability for a conducive poultry house, manpower availability, and the big volume of kitchen refuse as feed for the chickens.

The demonstration project also aims to showcase the economic viability of raising the birds that would further create a profitable enterprise for the inmates by following the unique package of technology for Bolinao chicken.

“The poultry houses will also be used as breeding houses of quality breeder stocks for future livestock dispersal activities in the Ilocos region,” Gervacio said.

As a venue for livelihood learning opportunities, the MMSU hopes that this development project will help the inmates establish a new life upon their release from detention.

Meanwhile, there are three working projects already being conducted by the implementing agencies to make the project become sustainable. These are in line with the genetic, nutritional improvement, marketing strategies, and product development.

Aside from the chicken project, the MMSU has been helping the BJMP put up its science and technology-based farm on dragon fruit and oyster mushroom production. (PNA)




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