January 10, 2012

 

Philippines striving for better dairy competitiveness

 

 

The Philippines' recent partnership with the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Development (IDRD) will raise international dairy competitiveness for local farmers. 

 

ManilaBulletin reports that the Filipino dairy farmers linked with the Dairy Confederation of the Philippines have started collaborating for a training programme with the IDRD in the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison to acquire the world's best practices in dairying.

 

The programme, supported with financing by the USDA and US dairy cooperative Land O'Lakes, sends in the second semester of 2011, eight dairy industry leaders to the IDRD.

 

The dairy training partnership programme includes dairy herd improvement, marketing and value-added products, UW Cooperative Extension System, UW Centre for Dairy Profitability, Dairy Cattle Nutrition and Feeding, Forage Centre Activities, Basic Dairy Cattle Health, Milk Quality Testing, and Cow Comfort and Facility Design and Biological Systems Engineering.

 

Government agencies have been supporting local dairy development as the sector has tremendous growth potential considering the huge market with the country's dairy imports reaching US$500 to US$700 million annually.

 

A Gouda Cheese development programme is now under the Philippine Council for Agriculture Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development's (PCARRD) Technomart programme.

 

Here, dairy producers, belonging to the Northern Mindanao Federation of Dairy Cooperatives (NMFDC) based at El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental, are aided on raising their revenue as they produce Gouda Cheese, butter, lactoflan, and other flavoured milk products.

 

With agencies like the National Dairy Authority (NDA) assisting in quality control of the dairy products, the Gouda Cheese of NMFDC has been purchased by the Dutch flag carrier KLM and has gained acceptance from recognised hotels.

 

"Fresh milk and other products, produced and processed by NDA-assisted dairy farmers, meet dairy industry standards. Customers-such as premium coffee shops and first-class hotels-are assured of quality items. Gouda cheese (Queso de Oro) has passed the discriminating test of cheese lovers," reported NDA.

 

The NMFD's Gouda Cheese, stored at four to eight degrees centigrade for at least six months, has gained a market for its flavour. As storing process raises production cost, PCARRD has extended a help to the NMFDC through a biogas digester facility that has become a cheap source of energy for the storage facility. The power facility uses manure of dairy animals as gas source.

 

The programme has also identified a dairy expert called "Magsasaka Siyentista" (MS) to aid other dairy producers in adopting best practices. The MS, Crescencio Barros, has been able to prove that temperate purebreds Holstein, Freisian, Jersey, Guernsey, and Brown Swiss can thrive in the country.

 

The MS programme is helping other dairy producers to address the shortage of forage, produce concentrate feeds, and carry out rotational grazing.