Ostrich raising a promising business in RP

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is promoting Ostrich farming as alternative to poultry business, especially in a time when a looming food crisis threatens the country and the whole of Southeast Asia. Although startup capital of the business is much bigger than an ordinary poultry farm, the agriculture department has assured those who would venture into the business of big income in the long run. A group of farmers from Southeast Asia visited recently the 11-year-old farm in Opol, Misamis Oriental, the first and the biggest ostrich farm in the Philippines. The group is to be part of an agri-tourism project of the agriculture department. According to GMA news 24 Oras report Thursday, among the objectives of the project is to find a solution to the food crisis haunting the region. “Our country needs to be self sufficient in rice… the price of rice in the market has gone up," said Tanya Alwi, a farmer from Indonesia. “This is an eco-tourism and agri-tourism project. It’s a combination of agri-business venture and tourist attraction," explained by Elsa Parrot, senior agriculturist of the Dept of Agriculture. The report said maintenance of ostrich is not really expensive because this huge breed of bird eats regular chicken feeds and kangkong. It added that ostrich multiply easily because it can lay as many as 100 eggs in a year. Meanwhile, an adult ostrich can generate about 100 kilos of premier meat that can be sold from P400 to P800 a kilo. The report said ostrich’s red meat tastes better than pork and a healthier diet, too, as it contains low calories. Ostrich meat is said to be one of the best-selling delicacies in Cagayan de Oro, where a restaurant offers a stick grilled ostrich meat (ala barbecue) for a low as P40. - Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV