LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN – Carabao, the national animal, is slowly becoming a rarity in Pangasinan and in the Ilocos.
And unless the government acts fast, it may become extinct in five to six years, Urdaneta City Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr. said here on Tuesday.
“The trend has become very alarming already,” said Perez, who was here to attend the provincial development council meeting. “They are becoming extinct because our farmers now use hand tractors.”
Ten years ago, carabaos were a common sight in rice fields on both sides of the road anywhere in the province, he said. But now, he said, for every 10 cows, only one carabao is seen or “nothing at all.”
The carabaos that are being traded at the Urdaneta cattle market are coming from Abra and Cagayan Valley, Perez said. Cagayan Valley, according to records of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, is the top carabao-producing region.
“There’s nothing, only a few now come from Pangasinan. Before our carabaos came from western Pangasinan,” he said.
Urdaneta has one of the biggest cattle markets in the country.
Perez noted that in the Ilocos region alone, carabao population decreased by 80 percent over 10 years.
He said in his city’s cattle market, only about 5 percent of the animals being traded there every week are carabaos.
“And this has affected our cattle market. Before, on an ordinary market day, about 1,800 heads were there for two days. Now, we only have 800 heads,” he said.
He said the government, especially the Department of Agriculture, should seize the initiative in preventing the possible extinction of the national animal.
“A lot of our people are still dependent on carabeef for their meat requirements,” Perez said. “Not only that this is the cheapest meat but, mind you, it also tastes better than beef or pork.”
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