By Ma. Cecilia Irang-Mariano
The government’s crossbreeding program has significantly boosted the population of dairy carabaos in Region 2. San Agustin, Isabela stands out as the “Crossbred Carabao Capital of the Philippines” due to its remarkable achievements in carabao crossbreeding.
The municipality actively collaborates with the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Carabao Center (DA-PCC) to train Village-Based Artificial Insemination (AI) Technicians (VBAITs), aiming to increase the population of crossbred carabaos.
This endeavor has yielded impressive results, with the municipal agriculture office reporting 2,854 crossbred carabaos in June 2023 in San Agustin.
The success in San Agustin is a result of the local government’s commitment to harnessing AI for breed improvement. Initiatives like the Carabao-based Business Improvement Network (CBIN) project and the DA-PCC’s carabao upgrading program are also expanding the carabao population in neighboring Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya through processing and marketing facilities.
The Philippine Dairy Carabao is a product of a continuous backcrossing method conducted by researchers at DA-PCC at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (DA-PCC at UPLB) under the guidance of Ester Flores, National Genetic Improvement Program Coordinator and geneticist of DA-PCC.
This breeding approach involves mating purebred riverine buffaloes with native swamp buffaloes (carabaos). The resulting offspring—crossbred carabaos—are bigger, meatier, and produce more milk than native carabaos, which can only provide an average of one to two liters of milk a day.
San Agustin, through LGU collaboration with DA-PCC and other partners, aspires to excel in carabao upgrading and dairy enterprise development. The production of more “Philippine Dairy Carabaos” positions the Philippines among countries that have successfully bred their dairy buffalo, potentially boosting the dairy carabao population nationwide.