Sen. Ramon B. Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, has allocated Php1 million from his countryside development fund (CDF) for the implementation of a buffalo-based dairy enterprise in Asingan, Pangasinan.

The amount was released on February 7, through the Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI) as the fund conduit to the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA). The PCC will be the lead implementing agency of the Asingan project.

According to Dr. Libertado C. Cruz, PCC executive director, the undertaking will be similar to the integrated buffalo dairying projects of the Tulong Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TMPC) in Barangay Tulong, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, and the Nueva Ecija Federation of Dairy Carabao Cooperatives (NEFEDCCO), which comprises 27 member-cooperatives and five affiliates.

The dairy enterprises of TMPC and NEFEDCCO benefit over 1,000 farmer-members in terms of additional daily income from milk sales.

Magsaysay, who also heads the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM), expressed hope that the Asingan project will replicate the success of TMPC, which is being assisted by the DA-PCC in collaboration with the Budhi ng Pilipinas Foundation Incorporated (BPFI), a non-government organization based in Urdaneta, Pangasinan founded by then Senator Letecia Ramos-Shahani.

Part of the fund assistance from Senator Magsaysay will be used to pay for the 25 Bulgarian Murrah Buffaloes (BMBs) that will be distributed to the members of Bantog Samahang Nayon Multi-Purpose Cooperative who qualified as participants of the project entitled ''Smallhold Farmers' Empowerment Through Carabao-based Dairy Development in Pangasinan Province.''

The animals will be utilized for milk production as a source of additional income and nutritious food for children in the community. At present, farmers in Asingan derive their income mainly from palay production and are either tenants or small landholders.

PCC, through its center based at the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, will implement the project with the BPFI as partner. PCC-DMMSU will extend technical assistance as well as hands-on coaching and supervision on project-related activities.

The Tulong Multi-Purpose Cooperative is the first recipient of the PCC's 25-cow dairy buffalo module. Barangay Tulong was the venue for launching the dairy buffalo module in 1997. Today, 29 TMPC farmer-members each own at least one pure Bulgarian Murrah Buffalo. These animals are the farmers' source of additional daily income over a period of some 10 months, which is the lactating duration that ensues upon giving birth to a calf.

In 2003 alone, the Tulong coop generated an additional income of Php393,966 from the sale of 12,311 liters of milk produced. They also supplied 3,368 liters of milk, worth Php103,360, for the milk feeding program of the Department of Education from July 28, 2003 to Feb. 3, 2004. Moreover, the Tulong farmers have already paid more than half of the 35 dairy buffaloes loaned to them by PCC.

The module has been replicated by the PCC in Nueva Ecija by establishing the province as the national impact zone for dairy buffaloes. Success in the NEFEDCCO enterprise has also been proven as farmer-recipients with at least one lactating animal have recorded an average additional income of P40,000 in a 10-month lactating period.