The National Tobacco Administration started the second phase of its Beef Cattle Production Assistance Project (BCPAP) with the distribution of beef cattle to 70 farmers in Abra on March 18.From the said number, 36 were from the villages of Villavieja, Bolbolo, Dintan and Ocup in Pilar, and 34 from the other tobacco-growing municipalities of Dolores, Tayum, Pidigan, San Quintin, Villaviciosa, Peñarrubia, Bangued, and Luba.
The distribution was facilitated by Project Consultant Dr. Mikael Benedict Carmelo G. Crisologo and a team of extension workers from NTA Abra headed by area supervisor Julio Barbosa.According to Crisologo, NTA Abra distributed 45 beef cattle for the first batch of beneficiaries during the initial phase of the project last year.
The dispersal of ready-to-breed upgraded Brahman heifers is part of the livestock component of the agency’s five-year industry development plan, or the Sustainable Tobacco Enhancement Program (STEP), to increase productivity and farmers’ income. NTA Administrator Robert Victor G. Seares ordered last year the immediate implementation of the second phase of the Beef Cattle Production, along with other livelihood programs such as the Gulayan at Manukan sa Barangay, with coverage area expansion and increased number of beneficiaries.
In all, the agency will be distributing 500 beef cattle to farmer-cooperators under its Tobacco Contract Growing System (TCGS) project for the second phase of the project, which is twice the number of the 250 beef cattle in the first phase.
[Photo credits: Ella Mae Agbusac]