BY: FERLIZA CALIZAR-CONTRATISTA
CEBU CITY, April 3 (PIA)—Go for climate
change resilient animals and feeds, this is the advise of the Department of
Agriculture to farmers.
In a weekly Kapihan sa
PIA, Marianito Doydora, DA-officer assigned to the Ubay Stock Farm in
Bohol said the farmers need to adopt surviving mechanisms in order to cope with
climate change.
The climate change phenomena can no
longer be prevented, he said observing abnormal weather conditions such as El
Nino and La Nina.
He said in times of El Nino or where
rain is rare, it is expected that the supply of natural feeds and forages will
decrease.
And expected to increase are the prices
of the commercial feeds for pigs, chickens, cows and others.
“In animal nutrition, animals tend to
stop moving in hot days, lesser growth and lesser productivity when it comes to
reproduction,” Doydora said.
It is important that farmers will have
a place where there is enough shade in hotter days and a secure shelter during
rainy season.
When it comes to natural feeds, Doydora
said corn is still number one and second is cassava.
However they are now advocating a
practice wherein livestock animals are feed with legumes.
“Legumes are best food alternatives,
high nutrition and can withstand extreme temperature,” Doydora said.
When it comes to animals, Doydora said
it is advisable that farmers will raise native chickens as these are resilient
to climate change.
Native chicken meat is in demand and is
priced higher than the rest of the ordinary chicken meats.
He said that DA is going all over the
region to educate the farmers on how to adopt to the changing weather
conditions.
Doydora was guests of the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, a project of the
Philippine Information Agency Cebu. (mbcn/FCC/PIA7-Cebu)