Buffaloes imported for stock ended up as steaks - COA
MANILA, Philippines - Instead of using the 530 imported buffaloes to improve the native stock of carabaos in the Philippines, the Commission on Audit (COA) said in its 2011 year-end report that these only ended up as expensive steaks.
The agency said up to P95.4 million worth of Bulgarian murrah buffaloes, at P146,000 to over P180,000 per head, were sold by farmer-beneficiaries to meat traders to be slaughtered.
The imports were part of the Multi-livestock Loan Development Program of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.
The buffaloes were loaned out to farmers belonging to a cooperative or association "to give opportunity to less privileged farmers to have a breeding animal as a primary source of income and to maintain animal-raising at the backyard level."
"Interview with the Chairpersons/Presidents of the 19 inactive cooperatives disclosed that most of the original animals loaned to farmers and their offspring no longer exist. Out of the 560 buffaloes and 17 bulls loaned by PCC to the said 19 cooperatives, only 47 original stocks or 8% remained. All the bulls had been either sold or dead," the COA reported.
"Nevertheless, there were still a total of 235 surviving buffaloes including their offspring from the 19 inactive cooperatives. Most of the animals, both original and their offspring, had been either dead or sold," it added.
Farmers ignored loan obligations
COA said many of the farmers simply ignored their obligations under the loan contracts, which auditors attributed to the "dole-out mentality" among them.
Under the program, the PCC experts provided assistance in breeding the animal, proper feeding and veterinary care. Supposedly, once the farmers are able to return their first calves to the PCC at an age of 16 to 18 months, they become the owners of the parent animals, although they have an option for the outright purchase of the carabaos if they can afford to pay for their acquisition cost.
However, the program started failing due to several factors including lack of coordination between the PCC and the farmers and dissolution of the cooperatives due to infighting among officials and members.
"Considering the high cost of the animals, the mere selling of the animal for eventual slaughtering defeated the purpose of the loan. Also, it has a great effect in the propagation of superior breeding stocks not only for the loss of the animals but also of the time lost since it takes about four generations or at least 16 years of continuous backcrossing to produce a purebred dairy buffalo," the COA said.
Murrah buffaloes are significantly bigger than their native counterparts, weighing 450 to 550 kilograms on average, compared to the Pinoy breed which ordinarily tips the scale at 350 kg.
The imports were brought in principally to improve milk production as the imported murrah carabaos normally produce 18 liters of milk daily – a far cry from the 1.5 liters average yield of the Pinoy breed.
"Most buffaloes were sold to traders at a meager amount which the farmers assumed will be for slaughtering or for use to other potential dairy areas such as Bulacan, Tarlac, Bataan, La Union, Pangasinan, Pampanga, including towns within Nueva Ecija not covered by NIZ (national impact zones)," the COA said.
Scott-free
The COA said the head of the PCC's Project Monitoring Evaluation Division had reported that a case was filed against a farmer 4 years ago. However, the case has not been resolved.
Unfortunately, COA said the PCC's failure to initiate legal action to compel payment for the loans only strengthened the farmers’ belief that the government would allow them off the hook.
"It was only during the year (2011) that the agency considered imposing legal measures against delinquent farmers," the COA said.
A total of 1,895 Bulgarian murrah buffaloes, including calves, were released to 36 cooperatives between 1999 and 2004 under the program. - Rappler.com
