FARMERS said the dairy industry requires a breeding program and technical upgrades to service growing demand, which is currently overwhelmingly met by imports.
The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. (PCAFI) said “there is an urgent need to fund a comprehensive breeding program and hiring of technical personnel and support imports of high-quality parent stock to build up the herd.”
The Philippines currently imports about 99% of its dairy requirements.
“For the past 45 years we have been at 1%. Maybe we need to focus (more on dairy) especially on the budget,” PCAFI President Danilo V. Fausto said.
According to the National Dairy Authority, the Philippines imported 4.46 million metric tons (MT) of dairy products during the first half.
The US Department of Agriculture estimates that imports of dairy will continue to rise 3% to 3.5 million MT in liquid milk equivalent in 2024, in line with the continued increase in demand.
During the third quarter, dairy animal numbers rose 2.3% to 98.88 thousand head, according to the Philippine Statics Authority. Dairy goats accounted for 36.6%, followed by carabaos with 33.2% and cattle 30.1%.
“The dairy sector is a low hanging fruit. It has the highest performance in the agriculture sector with 15.35% average growth for 2022,” PCAFI said.
“With appropriate support from (the) government through more funding, it can contribute tremendously to the growth of the economy,” it added.
The dairy industry development program has been allocated P218.03 million for next year.
Additionally, Mr. Fausto said milk feeding programs have been frozen during the second half.
“There is a problem with the milk feeding program, which is the main market of dairy farmers. It has not been implemented for the second half. There’s been zero programs,” he added. — Adrian H. Halili