MILK INDUSTRY INITIATIVE FORMED TO HELP LOCAL DAIRY FARMERS

Local milk producer Alaska Milk Corp. has signed up with various government agencies, the academe and foreign institutions for a shared initiative to help develop the Philippines’ milk industry.

Alaska Milk signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Embassy of Netherlands, and other parties—including the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the University of the Philippines, Los Banos—to establish a development program.

“To commemorate our golden jubilee this year and to help our country achieve food security, we are establishing the first-ever corporate-led Philippine-Netherlands Dairy Excellence Center,” Alaska Milk managing director Tarang Gupta said in a statement.

“This does not only fortify Alaska Milk’s mission to bring forth nutrition to every plate and glass of Filipino homes but also strengthen the company’s lifelong commitment to bettering the lives of Filipinos as a partner of the government in nation building,” he added.

At the sidelines of the signing ceremony held in Makati City, Gupta told reporters that the firm is eyeing to put up a physical facility in the future where they can conduct the trainings and other development programs for local milk farmers.

National Dairy Authority (NDA) officer in charge Farrel Benjelix Magtoto told the Inquirer at the sidelines of the event that there is currently a large gap between the local consumption and production of milk in the Philippines.

Magtoto said that the Philippines, as a country, consumes around 3 billion liters of milk annually, while the local production is currently only at 30 million liters.

“We are hoping this would help bridge the gap,” Magtoto said, adding that much of the dairy needs in the country is imported.

Still, the NDA official said that he remains optimistic that the local milk industry will soon breach the 30-million-liter mark, citing that government measures are planned to address this.

For instance, he said the Philippine government will bring in a thousand more cows in 2023 to shore up local milk production.

“Those will arrive next year and be distributed primarily to our cooperatives. Now, the NDA is doing the preparations,” he added.