Inspired Thinking By An Indigenous Electronics Tweenager In Mountain Province

“Necessity is the Mother of Invention[1]” – it’s a proverb that can be traced back to Plato’s Republik (Wikipedia). I say, to be able to invent, you have to know something, to care, to observe – and you have to be inspired.

Jessa Mae Gabonsays, “SAAD Youth Beneficiary Invents Improvised Incubator For Brown Egg Production,” 06 August 2021 (SAAD.gov.ph). He is Jomarie Pacpacong, 24 years old, a native of Leseb, Bauko in Mountain Province, and an electronics graduate of the Baguio College of Technology (BCT). Out of available materials Jomarie had improvised an incubator for the “Brown Egg Production Project” of Leseb Community Farmers Association (LCFA). On August 2019, the hens came from the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program under the Department of Agriculture (DA). (Congrats Jomarie and BCT; and thank you, SAAD!)
(image[2] from SAAD but which I chopped and made shorter)

Joemarie says:

Lockdown ket napansin ko nga ginmaget dagiti pakpakanen nga inted iti program nga ag-itlog, sunga napanunot ko kasla mayat padasen iti agpa-adu met iti manok ken tapnu adda kuma maisukat nu kas-kas-anu. Diyayen nga na-antig ti curiousitik nu kas-anu nga usaren agpa-pissa iti incubator ta imbag la nga adda ar-aramiden ken pang-i-apply-an iti kaamuwan iti electronics ken advance nga technology sunga in-youtube ko.

(My free translation: “During the lockdown last year, I noticed that the hens we were feeding given by the Program were “industriously” laying more eggs than usual, so I thought why don’t we try to multiply the flock to be able to replace the old stock when the time comes. My curiosity was aroused and to spend my time and apply what I knew of electronics, I thought of an incubator for hatching eggs, and did research on YouTube.)

He built it in about 1 week.

They have had a problem with the incubator – no other electrical power source during brownouts. With 4 batches of incubation so far, a total of 102 eggs, LCFA had only 19 eggs hatching from 2 batches.

Nonetheless, LCFA made money from the hatchlings. Priced at P200/head, the LCFA earned P2,400 from selling 12-week old birds. The rest supplemented the shortage of ready-to-lay-stocks in the locality.

I note that the invented incubator is for an association of farmers – I favor that the DA work enthusiastically with associations and cooperatives for 2 reasons: (1) people enjoy more economies of scale, and (2) the DA helps more people.

Jomarie is the son of Nelia Pacpacong, grandson of Helen Coniyat, who are among the 125 members of the LCFA, which is dominantly composed of Kankanaey indigenous people. (I know Baguio City is mostly Kankanaey, the ones we simply call “Igorot.”)

Ms Jessa says, “The association is grateful for how a son of theirs was able to come up with (an improvised) technology that could inspire the association to push with their future dream of breeding their own stock.” From the brown eggs, LCFA has earned an additional income of P29,322.

“Invention is the talent of youth, as judgment is of age” – Jonathan Swift.@517

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necessity_is_the_mother_of_invention

[2]http://saad.da.gov.ph/2021/08/saad-youth-beneficiary-invents-improvised-incubator-for-brown-egg-production/?fbclid=IwAR1tyQPAKQMVHmkk6QL_zLw4imFLH6bWmkd-pGMwCRIK6LKobpGbMm0X56s