February 18, 2011
Close to US$4 billion earmarked for the Philippine ruminant industry
The government will spend PHP167 billion (US$3.85 million) which started last year until 2034, or PHP7 billion (US$161.40 million) annually to kick-start the country's waning dairy and ruminant industry.
The aim is to increase the 3.9 million ruminants in 2010 to 6.9 million by 2034.
The fund targets to raise breeding stocks every generation of about five years, with corresponding increase in the production of milking animals for distribution to small farmers.
One of the perceived opportunities is the ever-increasing demand for milk and meat due to the high population growth rate, urbanization and rising income.
Ruminants - dairy cattle, carabaos, goats and sheep-can produce high - value products such as milk.
From the 2008 figures, the country imports 99 percent of milk and dairy products worth US$712 million yearly and about 84 percent of that is in powdered form.
Domestic milk production is only about 35 percent of total liquid milk supply despite having slow growth in recent years.
With meat, local ruminants contribute only about half of the carabeef and beef.
All these because of the small local herd are less than 30,000 heads of dairy buffaloes, cattle and goats.
Ruminants are also raised basically in smallholdings; nearly all of beef cattle are raised in backyards - 98 percent of the beef cattle and 99.9 percent of buffaloes, cattle and goats.
According to the roadmap, the formula to correct the dire situation, as charted by the road map, is to raise more ruminants by using crop by-products and idle lands.
The added attraction is that ruminants also play key roles in improving health, nutrition and poverty; most poor households are in rural areas with large tracts of idle land.
The idea is to invigorate the rural economy by promoting enterprises along the value chain; develop high-value dairy and meat products, including those for exports; and improve nutrition at the same time.
The Ruminant Animal Industry Road Map is built upon key strategies: increasing the number of ruminants; genetic improvement; and investment in support services and infrastructure like dairy processing facilities.
The government will retain ownership of breeding animals; pricing will be market-driven where transfer price of offspring includes amortization of breeders cost and financing charges; and livestock leasing instead of doling it out through dispersals.
The road map envisions self-sufficiency in ready-to-drink milk, increase red meat consumption per person by half in the long term; and increase animal productivity for the first six years by 5 percent and 10 percent for the succeeding six years.
Targets include increasing cattle and carabao heads by 2 percent, goat by 5 percent and sheep by 10 percent.
An initial massive importation of breeding animals is expected to produce succeeding generations of breeding animals.
All these aim to increase the average daily family income of smallholders at least twice the minimum wage, with 10 percent of them evolving into entrepreneurs.
Enterprise development - which gets half of the budget over 24 years - involves making available to about 104,000 smallholders the milking animals produced from the contract breeding of imported ruminants.
Each beneficiary will receive at least one pregnant buffalo or cattle heifer or 10 pregnant goats. Recipients should have prior experience in raising livestock, reliable source of forage and potable water and willing to put up an animal shed.
They are expected to retain the female offspring as replacement and as expansion of the milking herd; only the male offspring shall be sold for meat.
As soon as the herd reaches the maximum carrying capacity of available forage, the smallholders can engage neighbors as contract growers, herders or forage suppliers.
Interested livestock farmers with enough backyard herds will be supported to become private artificial insemination technicians.
Successful smallholders can then expand into commercial production of milk and meat and employ other workers.
Ultimately, the share of local milk production will reach 73 percent; that of meat will be 22 percent.
The immediate benefits are increased income or employment; some 1.3 million farm workers are expected to gain employment over 24 years. About 632,000 farm families will benefit from livestock distribution, including milking animals.
Another 625,000 rural folks will have additional employment as artificial insemination technicians, calf and kid rearers, forage producers, contract caretakers and milkers.
The expected increase in dairy herd will utilize at least 600,000 hectares under coconut - or 20 percent of the 3 million hectares planted to coconuts.
The road map was drawn in consultation with academe and major stakeholders that included the Dairy Confederation of the Philippines, Federation of Cattle Raisers of the Philippines, Large Animal Raisers of Mindanao, Federation of Goat and Sheep Producers Association of the Philippines, United Small Ruminant Raisers Association, Philippine Association of Meat Processors and the Meat Importers and Traders Association.
The government was represented by the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Carabao Center, National Daily Authority, Livestock Development Council, Bureau of Animal Industry and the National Meat Inspection Service.
