CAMIGUIN—The Philippine dairy industry, which earns P100 billion annually, still has a long way to go to sustain the country’s needs, experts said during the 20th National Dairy Congress held here.
The Philippine imports about $800 million of dairy products each year, with local producers only supplying one percent of demand, they added.
Dairy is the third-most imported agricultural product in the country, and 85 percent of what the country imports is in powder form. The powder is then processed into liquid form before it is shipped for local consumption.
National Dairy Authority administrator Marilyn Collado was blunt when she told close to 600 participants the country won’t be able to see “within our lifetime” the full development of the local dairy industry.
“But we have so much work to do, we must do scientific approach and best practices to be able to make an improvement in production output,” Collado said.
Rene Martin de Guzman, NDA Corporate Planning and management Services Department manager, said the country’s dairy industry needs at least 50 more years before it can be sustainable to provide a portion of the country’s dairy needs.
Dairy-exporting countries “took at least 100 years to fully develop their dairy industries” while in comparison, the Philippines is still in its “teen years,” De Guzman said.
However, he encouraged dairy growers and farm owners to look at the value of the dairy industry.
“You are part of a 100-billion-peso annual industry, there is so much room for growth,” De Guzman said.
NDA data showed the country only has 2.8 million cows and buffalos, with only 45,439 used as dairy animals. These animals produced 21.16 million liters of milk in 2016, representing a measly 1 percent of the country’s consumption.
Collado said dairy production grew four percent between 2015 and 2016. “We are optimistic that these trends will continue. Sustained dairy animal production and high demand for milk and milk products sustained the growth,” she added.
Juan Lozana, director of the Dairy Congress, also said the country has a long way to go in attaining sufficiency in dairy production.
Lozana suggested that dairy farmers should focus more on the quality of their milk production while expanding their number of dairy cows.
De Guzman said while the NDA is doing all it can to improve the dairy industry, it is also in the process of reviewing its 2010-2016 roadmap and harmonizing its plans with the Asean dairy roadmap.
She said the new 20-year map from 2017 to 2040 would be coming in. “But not without consultation of the dairy farmers, we need your input,” De Guzman said.
The NDA is also standardizing the education curriculum for dairy production and practices in the country. Collado said they are working with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for that.
The NDA is also undertaking a “Dairy Herd Buildup,” an enterprise enhancement program, a milk feeding program for children using locally produced milk with an annual budget of P300 million, and a milk safety and quality assurance program to help address the medium-term development goal of the dairy industry.
In June 2016, Manila Standard spoke with Felix Tanedo, national coordinator for the Philippines-New Zealand Dairy Project.
He said that contrary to the popular belief that the country is not a milk-drinking nation, “It is completely the opposite: we drink a lot of milk, although we mostly get it in powder form.”
The PNZDP is a five-year program with a $3.71-million Grant Funding Agreement aimed to enhance local dairy farmer’s productivity through improved animal nutrition and introduction of new forage grasses and legume mix.
Tanedo has been overseeing the national government’s scientific project to develop the country’s dairy industry with the help of the New Zealand government.
He said the country is embarking on a roadmap to develop the dairy needs of the country, a daunting tasks considering the present challenges, especially with the advent of climate change.
Tanedo said that focus dairy farms are being set up across the country to help the industry develop. The current approach of grazing needs to be re-invented with the introduction of grasses more appropriate for dairy development.
The local carabao grass is not too appropriate for dairy production, as it lacks the necessary nutrients and growth volume to produce milk in cows, he said. The government is now propagating Mulato and Mombasa Guinea grasses as graze feed for cows intended for dairy production.
Napier is also a popular grass feed, but is only useful for cut and carry practice, he added.
“These tall grasses are appropriate for dairy production and they are resistant to dry spells, they can also be grown under shades of trees,” Tanedo said.
The government this year purchased 473 Kiwi Cross cows from New Zealand for dispersal and propagation to experiment focus dairy farms. The New Zealand government also provided 285 cows for free as part of its technical assistance.
The 285 pregnant cows were shipped to Claveria in Misamis Oriental as part of the 24 focus farms in Northern Mindanao, and to Calabarzon, Northern Luzon and Visayas to demonstrate modern dairy technology.
The cows have an 85 percent chance to give birth to a female calf, the New Zealand government said.
Alfredo Perez, one of the beneficiaries in Claveria, said since the introduction of the new grass breeds, along with new grazing and milking technology, there is already a considerable amount of improvement in production output.
Perez received five pregnant Kiwi Cross cows on Tuesday, and the new grass has contributed to the growth of pastures on his 11-hectare farm.
“The grasses are taller than the native grass, so now i can accommodate five cows per hectare,” Perez said, adding each cow produces 10 to 15 liters per day — and is expecting more with the introduction of the Kiwi Cross breed.
Sold at P65 per liter of milk, Perez expects this production to double in the coming days. “The rainy season is now here, more grass will grow, more cows can graze, more milk it can produce,” he added.