Are We Producing the Philippine Native Chicken based on the Requirement of the Niche Market and Needs of the Raiser? 

The real scenario in raising of Philippine Native Chicken in the country

Raising of Philippine native chicken is an integral component of the farming system in the country. Farmers are keeping this fowl primarily for household consumption. It was the surpluses that reach the market. Hence, the available native chicken meat available to consumers is tough and dry, variable meat quality, and limited supply.

Furthermore, the market opportunity showed an increasing requirement of the market. The consumers require for synthetic chemical-free (e.g. antibiotics & amino acid isolates), distinctive taste, standardized meat quality (in terms of size, tenderness, juiciness, and all-year-round meat taste), and available supply when needed. 

On the other hand, the raisers need for native chicken breeder stocks that can be grown in a shorter period of time (60 to 90 days old to reach the marketable liveweight of 850 to 900 grams and have higher survival rate. The present stocks that they have entailed for more than four months of age before it can be marketed. The practices they are employing tended to have a mortality rate of even more than 50%. This can be one of the probable reasons for the limited supply of native chicken in the market. These raisers wanted to raise the native chicken in commercial scale but the available packages of technology (POT) focus on backyard scale of production. A number of the raisers ventured to apply the existing POT but fall short of the expectations. 

With these premises, the Central Philippine University conducted researches that used to focus on Commercial Production of Philippine Native Chicken through the support coming from the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Agricultural Research.  More of this POT's will be discussed in the next post. Please subscribe in our Bloggs for updates. 

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Background Information about Philippine Native Chickens

The Philippine Native Chicken 

In the Philippines, the native chickens are comprised of two major phenotypic groups. These are the larger and smaller phenotypic groups. For the larger phenotypic group, these are comprised of the following: 

1. Basilan chicken of Zamboanga Peninsula
2. Paraoakan chicken of Palawan 
3. Jolo chicken of Western Visayas
4. Egon chicken of Bicol Region
5. Joloano chicken of Northern Luzon

These group of chicken is believed to be the remnants of Gallus giganteus or known to be the Giant Chicken that can be found in the Malay Peninsula (including the Philippines) and Papua New Guinea. The Giant Chicken is existing up to 18th Century in remote areas of the country. It was in the mid of 18th Century that Charles Darwin has seen it and describe as "Barbarous Chicken" with long legs and neck. He added that this chicken can be found in nine different islands of the Philippines. 

Furthermore, it is believed that the Malay Chicken as one of the parental lines of Cornish Chicken came from Gallus giganteus. The Malay Chicken was registered in the American Poultry Association as early as 1854. This implied that the Philippines has valuable genetic resources of native chickens that can be used for the development of the local breeds based on the requirements of the niche market and needs of the raisers.    

Aside from the larger genetic group, the country has a smaller phenotypic group that can be found in different regions. These are the following: 

1. Bisaya Chicken that can be found in Mindanao and Visayas Regions 
2. Manok Tagalog of Luzon Regions 

From these groups, various standardized breeds (selected for certain traits e.g. plumage color) were developed. These are the following: 

1. Darag chicken of Iloilo. This was developed from the Bisaya chicken. 
2. Camarines chicken Bicol
3. Banaba of Batangas
4. Bolinao of Pangasinan

There is more standardized breed are being developed in the Philippines. This is due to the perceived opportunities seen in these groups of poultry. The economic impact in the years to come is noted. It will reduce the dependency of the country from the importation of inputs needed in the production of various poultry products. This can also help in the conservations of our local genetic resources. 

to be continued. . . 

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