BIZ BUZZ: Wanted: Land for dairy farms

Do you own land that could be suitable for dairy farming? Are you interested to get into the dairy business? If you answered yes to both questions, then you may just be what the government needs to help increase local milk production.

To get started, send a letter of intent to the National Dairy Authority (NDA) and they will guide you through the process.

“We want to emphasize that it is so easy for everyone, for each Filipino, to become a dairy farmer,” NDA Administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya said over dinner with journalists.

“Many people think dairy farming is difficult. All you have to do is, if you have land, then send a letter of intent. We will evaluate that, we will assess your land if it is suitable for dairy farming, and if it is, you are okay,” Andaya said.

Andaya said once the NDA’s technical people confirm that the land is appropriate for dairy farming and evaluate the interested farm owner’s capacity, the applicant will be added to the list of recipients eligible to receive cattle to take care of.

“Alam niyo po, simula nang dumating na po dito sa NDA, nagmukha na akong ahente kasi lahat ng mga kausap kong kaibigan na may mga lupa, sinasabi ko sa kanila, pwede ka mag-dairy farming. Pag may kilala akong may lupa, pwede ka. Hindi nila alam,” he added.

(You know since I assumed the top post at the NDA, I have become like a land agent because I convince all my friends who own a land to engage in dairy farming. I tell them you can become a dairy farmer. They don’t know.)

The NDA has been coordinating with the commercial sector and local producers to absorb a certain portion of milk output.

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For the longest time (or maybe more than a decade at this point), the Philippines has been virtually dependent on milk imports to fulfill the demand for this commodity.

Even though the country’s milk self-sufficiency level has increased to over 1 percent as of June year, the path of achieving full self-sufficiency remains a challenge given the limited budget.

We can only hope that the NDA will be able to attain its target of 5 percent milk self-sufficiency level by the end of the Marcos administration.