Maricris Huit and her successful balut business in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Ipil town. (Photos courtesy of DOST.)
ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / July 23, 2014) – Couple Calixto and Maricris Huit used to have three manually-operated incubators for their balut processing business in the town Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay province in southern Philippines.
Balut is a local street food – fertilized duck egg with a developing embryo inside – boiled and eaten right from the eggshell. Being manually operated, the machines worked slowly and the products were not 100% balut sa puti which is typically 17-days old that is a favorite among many Filipinos.
Thus, in 2012, the couple received assistance from the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program’s (SETUP) which assists the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises in the adoption of technology innovations to improve their operations and expand their business reach.
With a grant of P349,000 from the program, the Huit couple were able to purchase an automated 18-rack bay egg incubator with a digital thermostat control system and a load capacity of 80,000 per cycle.
Aside from equipment acquisition, DOST’s technology interventions also included manpower development training, process improvement, and system improvement for mechanized production.
After benefiting from this assistance package, Maricris’ and Calixto’s “balut worries” is over. The facility which used to produce between 1,000-2,000 eggs a day now can churn out 5,000 balut sa puti eggs every day.
Sales have skyrocketed. Before, they merely posted average sales of 216,000 balut eggs a year and annual earnings of P 2.16 million, but now, their Marc’s Balut Processing Facility was able to sell at least 360,000 eggs on the first quarter of 2014 alone, translating to a whopping P3.24 million in gross sales.
According to Maricris, they are now getting orders from the cities of Zamboanga, Basilan, Dipolog, and Cagayan de Oro. “Through word of mouth, our customers increased, especially those in Zamboanga,” she said.
From six workers, she said the business has grown to hire additional workers and now the facility has 22 regular personnel.
Despite the success, the Huit couple are not stopping at this point and they plan to buy another incubator to keep up with the demand, and to have their own poultry in order to have a continuous supply of fresh eggs. To augment their supply, they buy fresh duck eggs from Manila, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija.
But for now, the family is certainly enjoying the fruits of their hard work and the DOST interventions.
“My husband and I were able to buy a car and we can now send our two boys to better schools,” she said, referring to their sons Marc Alexi, 10, and Marc Audei, 3.
“We also get to go on family outings more often now,” Maricris said. “I feel that the business is more stable now.”
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