A poultry farm in Dipolog City has fixed the common headache of farm owners: foul odor, swarm of flies, angry neighbors and, not the least, high cost of electricity.
The Rockefeller Farm, a seven-hectare poultry and swine farm in Dipolog City, is now turning its accumulated waste into power through its established biogas digester facility, said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which aided the farm to acquire the machine that turns chicken and pig waste into energy.
The owner of the farm, Lester Uy Ong, said his farm collects the mounds of waste from the more than 100,000 chickens and pigs in the farm, and dump them into a pit three storys deep, where he said ‘microorganisms eat them up and convert into energy.’
‘Select microorganisms break down the manure into simple molecules enough for other microbes to feast on, digesting them and eventually burp out gases, such as methane, which is converted into electricity through their biogas generator,’ Ong added.
This was possible with the biogas digester facility that reduce the foul odor and swarming flies, and to have a sufficient power source, said Lester’s wife, Heidi, and the farm’s co-owner.
The owners said the Rockefeller has one biogas generator capable of 300 kilovolt-amperes, which can power the whole farm for 15 hours, comparable to lighting up an entire rural barangay.
The DOST aided them to upgrade the farm through one of its flagship initiatives, the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program, providing P5 million to acquire the biogas digester facility.
Ong told the DOST that the farm used to spend P900,000 on electricity a month to power two buildings of chicken and pig housing, sorting facilities, and other maintenance costs.
The funding support helped improve the production at Rockefeller Farm, enabling it to supply poultry products and meat to local restaurants in Dipolog City, partnering with distributors for major consumer brands, and reaching markets in nearby provinces in the Zamboanga Peninsula and even Dumaguete City and Cebu, the DOST said.
The biogas digester facility also produces high-quality fertilizers, for their Rockefeller Farm or distributed to their workers for their crops.
‘Moreover, the farm observes circular and sustainable practices, including treating wastewater for reuse in farming maintenance, especially in animal waste disposal-aligned with the standards of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,’ the DOST said.
The DOST said the Rockefeller Farm has expressed willingness to also help other communities ‘leverage biogas, targeting the high potential of installing biogas digester facilities and electric generators at landfills.’ Ong said he wanted to share it and make the landfill modern, saying the it produces more biogas of as much energy capacity to light up five to 10 barangays.
‘If this is executed, this would be a big help to the communities near landfills,’ he pointed out.