Marketing Manok Piinoy FIRST SMALL STEP IN A LONG JOURNEY

By Manny Piñol

Five years ago, I started developing an improved Philippine backyard chicken breed which I called Manok Pinoy, to differentiate it from the Manok Tagalog, Manok Bisaya and Manok Muslim which come from the different regions of the country.

My effort was mainly based on the fact that while Filipinos prefer the free-ranged “nitib” chicken over the 27-day-old broiler because of its taste and firm meat, there is no distinct Philippine chicken breed which possesses identifiable and common characteristics.

The so-called “Nitib” chicken that we have now, except the Manok Muslim of Mindanao which belongs to the iconic family of the Asian Asils, are actually mongrels with no distinct characteristics, like uniform feather and leg color, appearance, size and weight gain rates, thus making it difficult to produce free-ranged chicken in commercial quantity.

Not only are these “Nitib” chicken poor egg layers, they are also notoriously slow growers, taking about 6 to 8 months before they reach the marketable weight of 800 grams to one kilo.

Sadly, there has been no serious effort on the part of government to even conduct a research on how to develop and backyard chicken breed with characteristics and meat quality similar to the “Nitib” chicken.

So far, I know of only one pioneering effort in this field and this was done by a group of learned farmers in Panay Island where they developed a strain called “Darag,” an Ilonggo word for the reddish color.

With all these things in mind, I obtained financial support from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and started developing Manok Pinoy in my farm in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato by mixing different bloodlines of chicken.

The mission was to develop a “new” Philippine chicken breed which would grow faster, lay more eggs, carry more meat in its body and capable of adapting to the country’s climatic conditions while at the same time retaining the firmness and the taste of the meat that Filipinos love.

When my desired breeding objective, as manifested in consistent genotype and phenotype, was achieved, I set a distinct strain of backyard chicken and named it “Manok Pinoy” in the hope that this new breed would be representative of the Philippine backyard free-ranged chicken.

The Manok Pinoy has proven to be more prolific in egg-laying and are fast growers, reaching the desired 1-kilo marketable weight in 3 to 4 months.

But it was not easy. There were tough challenges like the reduction of egg production during the times when we had heavy rains.

We also had problems with very high infertility rate among the eggs which we later discovered to have been caused by our breeding set-up where we restrained the broodcocks to prevent them from fighting each other. Unfortunately, the set up also prevented them chasing the hens and fertilising the eggs.

Since our incubators were locally fabricated, we also suffered from several mechanical and electrical problems which spoiled thousands of eggs already ready to hatch.

These were costly problems but we learned a lot of lessons from these setbacks.

Last year, we started marketing live Manok Pinoy to a “nitib” chicken specialty house in Davao City.

It has always been my dream, however, to market Lechon Manok Pinoy very much like the Andok’s Lechon Manok or Señor Pedro chain.

The only difference would be the fact that Lechon Manok Pinoy is naturally grown and free-ranged backyard while theirs would be 27-day-old broilers.

Establishing a specialty restaurant offering nothing but naturally-grown free-ranged “Nitib” Philippine chicken in the SM, Robinson’s or Gaisano Malls was an idea that excited me no end.

But I knew I had to start something somewhere to prove to “Nitib” chicken lovers that they can now have their favourite chicken – firm meat, distinct taste, naturally grown and healthy – in commercial quantity.

Last Sunday July 5, the dream was realized.

in front of my house in Matina, Davao City which is right across a Catholic church, I established the first “lechonan” for Manok Pinoy to be sold to churchgoers and other passersby.

Hardly had my farm handyman and driver Junjun Solin finished cooking the first batch Lechon Manok Pinoy in a skewer, eight of the 40 heads cooked for the “test marketing” were immediately bought.

Seeing the acceptance by the buyers of the “Lechon Manok Pinoy,” I felt proud as the breeder knowing that the product of my efforts and sacrifices has the potential of making it big in the Philippine backyard free-ranged chicken industry.

Lechon Manok Pinoy will only be available on Sundays but I intend to buy a small motorcycle which will be used to deliver the “lechon manok” to those who could not come to our subdivision to buy it – ala Jollibee delivery.

It is still too early to gloat about the success of Manok Pinoy but I believe I have made the first small step in the advocacy to convince our agriculture officials and our backyard chicken growers that we now have a “nitib’ chicken breed which could be grown and raised in commercial quantity.

I will continue improving the Manok Pinoy and aim to develop a more fast-growing strain through farm experimentation while staying away from artificial and synthetic feeds and medicines which have made eating the quick-growing broilers a health concern.

In the farm now, I have also started using the traditional herbal supplements and medication too to ensure the production of healthy chicken for my children and other children.

These natural supplements and cures address free-ranged poultry problems like the lack of appetite and other respiratory ailments.

I will write about this herbal medicines and feed supplements in my future posts as the experiment is on going.

This early, however, I can say that the results of this herbal solutions to common poultry problems handed down to us by our elders but largely ignored in favour of the over-the-counter branded medicines and feed additives, are simply amazing.

By next year, I hope to increase the number of my breeders to be able to raise and grow more Manok Pinoy for the market.

(Photo caption: The automatic-rotating grill for lechon manok; handyman Junjun Solin operating the “lechonan”; and Davao City Golf Club President Antonio V.A. Tan with golfers Atty. Boy Braganza, Vic Noble, Benhur Villarosa and Bert Pogoy enjoying the lechon Manok Pinoy; file photos of Manok Pinoy in the farm.)