Chicken capital

Originally intended for North Cotabato, the program was redirected to Cebu and Kidapawan City due to political changes and the need for strong local government support.

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"I am doing this with a heavy heart because the Manok Pinoy Free-Range Chicken Production Program was originally intended to be undertaken in my home province, North Cotabato. Following the disastrous results of the last elections, however, I had to relocate the program in an area where the local political leaders will support it, including my home city of Kidapawan," Piñol said.

He emphasized that previous government-run free-range chicken programs failed due to lack of monitoring and market assurance.

His model aims to address these gaps by involving municipal and provincial veterinary offices and deploying "barefoot poultry technicians" for farm-level supervision.

"Based on my experience, the Free-Range Chicken Program of government failed in the past because after distributing the breeders to farmers, there was no followup monitoring and supervision. There was also the absence of a marketing system which would assure farmers that the free-range chicken that they will produce will be bought at a fair price," he added.