DA sets aside P4.9-B for dairy, livestock

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is allocating nearly P5 billion for the development of the local livestock and dairy industries to increase their contribution to overall farming.

Through the government’s 10-year roadmap which will start next year, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said the agency aims to increase cattle population and improve milk production.

The program will be backed by P3.7 billion from DA’s overall 2018 budget, another P1 billion from the World Bank-assisted Philippine Rural Development Program, and the P209 million fund from the US.

“We aim to increase the country’s cattle population from 2.5 million to five million, raise milk production from one percent to 10 percent of the national requirements and strengthen the backyard hog industry with the establishment of community feed mills using local feed materials,” Pinol said.

The DA was originally supposed to allot P18 billion for the livestock and dairy sectors from the proposed P213 billion budget.

However, Congress only approved about P60 billion for 2018, slashing most of its flagship programs.

The livestock program will be focused on the importation of an initial 10,000 heads of the dual-purpose Girolando heifers from Brazil and 100,000 heads per year thereafter from 2019 to 2022.

“We will implement the multiplier farm concept where breeding and dairy farms with 100 heads each will be established as a community project and managed by groups of farmers,” Pinol said.

“Next year, a total of 100 multiplier farms will be established initially in Batangas, the Cordillera Region and in two other areas in Visayas and Mindanao,” he added.

Meanwhile, the dairy goat breeding materials will also be sourced from accredited local breeders and farms in the US and will be implemented through the same multiplier farm concept.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that dairy production went up four percent to 21,160 metric tons last year.

In terms of value, dairy registered the highest increase under the livestock sector at 10 percent to P715 million.