The Department of Agriculture–Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) distributed some PHP9.7 million worth of farm facilities and inputs to goat raisers in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.

DA-PRDP Regional Project Director Eduardo Lapuz Jr. said on Friday the beneficiaries are the 192 members of the Bonifacio Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMPC).

Lapuz said the farm facilities worth PHP6.2 million included a multiplier farm, trading post, an office, and a stock room.

“Nagsimula po kami sa extension lang ng bahay ng dating manager at dumating nga po itong proyektong PRDP, na sinalihan po naming at nai-grant naman po, kaya po ngayon, eto na po kami, isang recipient ng isang napakagandang proyekto ng PRDP. (We started inside the extension of the house of our former manager and now came the PRDP, which we applied for and was granted. This is us now, a recipient of a beautiful project of the PRDP),” BMPC chairperson Marilou Agustin said in a news program.

The awarded inputs worth PHP3.5 million consisted of more than a hundred heads of upgraded F1 does and bucks, purebred Boer bucks, and native goats.

The cooperative beneficiary also received feeds, medicines, vitamins, dewormers, naper grass cuttings, and legumes.

Lapuz cited the importance of the newly-awarded goat farm facilities considering that the country continues to experience a shortage of meat products that include those from goats.

He said the new facilities will open more opportunities for Cuyapo town to help it become the center of goat production and marketing in the province as well as in nearby provinces.

“This also serves as another milestone for the cooperative due to the establishment of its livestock trading post which is the first of its kind in the province of Nueva Ecija,” Lapuz added. (PNA)