Invigorating the cattle industry is one of the major thrusts of the Department of Agriculture under the leadership of Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

According to the latest 2017 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the total cattle inventory nationwide is at 2.6 million; almost all (93.94%) of which were raised by backyard farmers. Only a small percentage were raised in commercial farms. Likewise, most of the breeds raised were for meat production and only a small number were dairy or dual-purpose breeds.

A study conducted by the University of the Philippines Los Baños showed that the country’s milk industry is divided into two distinct sectors, namely: huge importing and processing sector that supplies over 99% of the milk requirement of the country and a small milk producing sector that provides the rest of the supply.

Of all the cattle-raising regions nationwide, CALABARZON has the highest contribution among the milk producing sector. Since the local industry cannot compete in the powdered milk market, producers focus on supplying fresh milk to institutional buyers (i.e. specialty coffee shops, hotels and restaurants) and local government units for their milk feeding programs.

The provinces of Batangas and Quezon have the biggest contribution to the industry in terms of volume of production. Batangas alone has a 63% share among the five provinces based on the Value Chain Analysis (VCA) study conducted by the I-PLAN component. This is why all dairy-based enterprises and support infrastructures of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) are in these provinces.

In Batangas, there are two milk production and processing subprojects to be funded under the PRDP. The provincial-backed “Batangas Dairy Cattle Production” subproject of the Batangas Dairy Cooperative (BADACO) is worth P29.16-million including the counterpart coming from the cooperative. Aside from the 27 members of the group who will directly benefit from the stock infusion, processing, and construction of forage facility, the enterprise will also involve 10 additional members per year. On the other hand, non-dairy backyard raisers will benefit from the dispersal of animals and material inputs.

For the Tanauan City supported “Tanauan City Dairy Enterprise” worth P21.02 million, the Samahan ng Maggagatas ng Batangas Cooperative (SAMABACO) will create a communal farm where the additional stocks will be housed together with animals coming from the individual farms of the group’s 31 members. The milk produced from the communal farm will be toll-processed in the milk processing facility of the Katipunan ng Kooperatiba ng Maggagatas Integrated (KKMI), of which SAMABACO is a member.

In Quezon, the Palcon Dairy Cooperative in cooperation with the provincial government will establish a dairy multiplier farm. Composed of 81 members, Palcon’s P19.91-million enterprise will buy stock animals to provide to its members. They aim to sell more milk to KKMI as well as to disperse more animals to members and non-members.

The three subprojects all have No Objection Letter (NOL) 1 from the South Luzon Project Support Office (PSO) and are about to proceed to the procurement stage upon the release of the first tranche.

The “Concreting of Farm-to-Market Road, Barangay Olo-olo, Mabilog na Bundok and Nagtaluntong” subproject is expected increase areas for milk and forage production in Lobo, Batangas. The P122.91-million, 8.06-kilometer road will benefit seven adjacent barangays and 1,796 households (8,980 individual project beneficiaries). This is the only ongoing infrastructure subproject of the PRDP that is based on the VCA and Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) for dairy cattle.

Additional enterprise and infrastructure subprojects anchored on Dairy Cattle are in the pipeline. ### (Lawrence Albert Bariring, PRDP CALABARZON RPCO)

Animal stock in one of the individual farms of the members of Samahan ng Maggagatas ng Batangas Cooperative (SAMABACO) in Tanauan City, Batangas. Through the subproject, the PG will have a communal farm where the additional stocks will be housed together with animals from members.