Stock farms, animal imports eyed to beef up milk output

MANILA, Philippines — The National Dairy Authority (NDA) is looking to spend over P850 million to construct five stock farms and import dairy herd animals to help boost the country’s milk production by six-fold in five years.

“Right now, our approved project to construct five stock farms is around P498 million,” NDA administrator Gabriel Lagamayo said in a media briefing.

The five stock farms will be developed in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija; Guinobatan, Albay; Ubay, Bohol; Malaybalay, Bukidnon; and Davao City.

These farms will breed island-born animals, which will help improve the genetics of the dairy herd in the country.

“Based on our timeline, our target is to make these farms ready by the end of the year. This means the grass are already ready and we plan to import animals next year also,” Lagamayo said.

The NDA is also looking to import 2,000 cows next year.

“We’re asking for additional budget for importation. For 2,000 heads, that is about P360 million,” Lagamayo said.

The country will be importing cows from temperate countries since neighboring countries have existing cow disease.

Through the stock farms, the imported cows will be bred first and then their progeny can be released and distributed to farmers.

Dairy Confederation of the Philippines president Danny Fausto stressed the need to improve the country’s dairy animal herd, but this will require huge investments.

“The target we’re looking at in the roadmap is P2 billion a year to be given to NDA to support the increase of stock, for genetics improvement,” he said.

The NDA expects around two years before realizing the benefit from this initiative, Lagamayo said.

“That’s roughly 23 months from the time the dairy animals arrive in the country,” he said.

The NDA is targeting to increase dairy production by 500 percent to 80 million liters per year.

It is also planning to increase the milking herd to 15,000 heads and produce 15 liters of milk per cow per day.

Currently, the daily average milk production per cow is only eight to 10 liters. Through better feed quality, the agency targets to improve this to 15 to 16 liters.

To achieve this, the NDA is establishing feed centers in rural areas to address one of the costliest farm inputs.

“If cooperatives can lead in the production of good quality feeds and distribute it efficiently, their costs will significantly decrease and increase their profits,” Lagamayo said.