Goat raising is one of the most practical livestock ventures a farmer can engage in, as it requires low initial capital and guarantees a high return on investment in just two years.

In Tarlac, however, smallhold farmers were not able to maximize these advantages until a year ago, as they lacked the proper skills and knowledge on goat management. Good breeds were inaccessible as they were very expensive. Technical support was also lacking.

To enhance goat production in the province, a team of facilitators from the Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA) introduced in 2006 a development project in the town of Camiling. Initially implemented in three barangays, the project Enhancing goat productivity through the adaptation of technologies of the Farmer Livestock School (FLS) on Integrated Goat Management (IGM) engaged farmers in participatory technology validation and adaptation.

For six months, 38 farmers met once a week and were trained by the facilitators on integrated goat management. They went home after every class with an assignment – an activity to be tested or implemented in each farm.

After just a year of implementing FLS-IGM, the project’s technology transfer modality, farmers learned to house their goats and design pens according to their resource endowments. These pens, which protected the animals from diseases and thieves, lessened goat mortalities in the town by 80-100%.

Goat inventory in the villages also increased by 77% in just seven months from the start of FLS. According to the farmers, the technologies they mixed and matched contributed to this increase.

The facilitators then established a multiplier farm of upgraded goats at TCA, which served not only as source of good stocks but also as a show window of various technologies on goat production.

The multiplier farm was able to produce kids of the Native x Anglo Nubian and Native x Boer bloodlines. In just six months, the stocks at TCA have increased by 91%. This meant that more stocks could be loaned to more farmers in the area.

The project also assisted the farmers organize themselves into a cooperative not only to build their future marketing power but also to strengthen their bayanihan spirit in the management of the project.

Specifically, the project endorsed the MASINAG Multi-purpose Cooperative, with farmer-cooperators of the project as members, to the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval and recognition.

At present all transactions of the members (purchase of biologics, concentrates and sale of goats) are coursed through the coop. It has linked with a private company that slaughters and sells fresh meat, resulting in about 80-100% increase in farmers’ income from goat raising.

The potential of goat raising in Tarlac is very bright with the adoption of technologies of the FLS. Goat-related problems have been addressed by farmers themselves and the market has been set.

With the many benefits experienced by the farmers in the pilot areas, the project can now be expanded to cover other municipalities.

The FLS-IGM is a modality introduced by PCARRD in regions 1-4 in 2004. The TCA facilitators formed part of the participants to the training course conducted in that same year to promote the modality among local government units, state colleges and universities, and Department of Agriculture (DA) regional offices. The initiation of the FLS-IGM in Camiling was funded by the DA - Bureau of Agricultural Research. (Anna Marie Palacpac-Alo, S&T Media Service).