Baguio: The Baguio Animal Breeding and Research Center (BABRC) of the Department of Agriculture in Cordillera has opened its doors to educate the public, especially children, appreciate farm life and understand the importance of agriculture in food security. On Thursday, the BABRC held the "Milky Day," where children engaged in a milking activity to learn where the milk they drink comes from.
According to Philippines News Agency, 'Milky Day' is an open house for the launching of the Farmer and Fisherfolk Month. "We started this last year. We are opening the farm so that they can see that we have this kind of farm in the city that is open to kids and for us to learn," Dr. Ofelia Docayag, chief of the BARBC and the DA-Cordillera Integrated Laboratory, said in an interview.
Docayag explained that the facility houses Holstein Friesian cows, which are imported from Australia, with bulls of this breed weighing 1 ton (1,000 kilos) or more. Aside from the cows, rabbits and big chickens are also appealing to the children.
Docayag underscored the importance of teaching children about agriculture. "We have to educate them, what is our future if all our children will just focus on their cellular phones, if everyone will be indoors, who will sustain and how can we sustain farming, who will be the future of farming, we have to expose the children at a young age," she said.
She mentioned that they are looking into holding regular tours of the facility with children visiting the animal cages, seeing for themselves how the animals are cared for, how milk is produced, and getting used to the smell in the cages. "Our stakeholders are pre-schoolers and elementary. If they want to have an educational tour, they can simply write us so that we can arrange the visit which will maximize use of the place not just for production but also for learning."
During the "Milky Day," visitors can also get a liter of fresh milk for every purchase of a bag of 10 kilos of cabbage, aside from the free tissue-cultured banana and citrus fruit seedlings and vegetable seeds. With the vast land bounded by the city's jurisdiction and that of the municipality of Tuba in Benguet, located below the Santo Tomas Relay station, the facility also has coffee and citrus plantations.
BABRC is involved in breeding highbred animals and reproduces the same for dispersal to interested farmers and the public for milk, meat, and eggs. "They simply have to make a request so that they can be queued to be provided with their request of either sheep, cow, pig or chicken," the official said, adding that a validation process would follow to ensure that the requested animals would thrive in a target area.
