New gov’t cattle farm planned in Palawan
The National Dairy Authority (NDA) plans to establish its sixth cattle farm in Palawan province to bolster domestic milk production. NDA Administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya said they were studying the development of another stock farm in Roxas town in Palawan.
“We will be able to balance the positioning of all our stock farms since we don’t have one yet in Southern Luzon,” Andaya told reporters on Friday, adding “Palawan would be a great place to put our stock farm somewhere in the south.”
The NDA is currently building five dairy farms, which will be completed by the end of 2024, in various parts of the country. These farms in Tinio, Nueva Ecija; Ubay, Bohol; Malaybalay Bukidnon; Carmen, Cotabato and Agusan del Sur, would be operational by next year.
Each stock farm can accommodate 150 cattle heads. The farms would house imported cattle to be used to increase the existing herd of nearly 80,000. Their offspring would then be distributed to dairy farmers.
“It’s not all about increasing the herd. It’s also about increasing the yield,” Andaya added.
He said the completion of six farms could significantly help the NDA achieve its goal of 5-percent milk self-sufficiency, equivalent to producing 80 million liters of locally sourced milk, by 2028.
Rising dairy imports
As of June this year, the country’s self-sufficiency level for milk stood at 1.56 percent. For years, the Philippines has been heavily dependent on importation as local production can only supply 1 percent of its dairy requirements.
Based on data from the NDA, milk production rose by 15 percent to 16,020 metric tons in the first half of 2024. It said domestic production accounted for 21 percent of the total liquid milk supply, equivalent to one glass out of every five glasses consumed in the country.
