The Agriculture Department is seeking to include in its 2018 budget the procurement of Australian live cattle.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the move would boost the livestock industry in the country.
“I would be asking for a P200-billion budget next year because during the previous Cabinet meeting, the president told me that the DA will be getting the funds it needed to serve the Filipino farmers and fisherfolk,” Piñol told reporters in an interview.
“He didn’t say any amount but I will be asking for the amount that I think the farmers would really need,” Piñol said.
He said he already discussed the possible importation of live cattle with Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorely, who called on him at his Quezon City office last week.
The agency intends to establish dairy municipal multiplier farms in the Cordillera region and Bukidnon, where the climate is cold, using the imported cattle as surrogates for embryos, which are likely to be procured from Australia.
Technicians will be provided to the farms to ensure proper care of the cattle.
Piñol said Gorely also expressed Australia’s intention to continue exporting wheat, sharks fin and potentially, live bees to the country.
The Australian government approved in October last year the importation of Philippine mangoes, except those grown in Palawan.