June 6, 2011
Philippines hopes to improve dairy industry
The Philippines has much to gain in fast-tracking the genetic improvement of its dairy cattle herd that will boost the development of the local livestock and dairy industry.
This was stressed by representatives from the livestock and dairy sector during a visit here. The 15-member Philippine delegation visited here from May 30 to June 3 to explore cooperation in the dairy industry between Thailand and the Philippines.
During the visit, the Philippine delegation was given insights as to how Thailand was able to develop its own dairy industry and achieve its current status of being 60 percent to 70 percent milk self-sufficient.
Led by Agriculture assistant secretary for livestock Davinio P. Catbagan, Bureau of Animal Industry executive director Efren C. Nuestro and National Dairy Authority (NDA) administrator Grace J. Cenas, the team composed of agriculture officials, livestock and dairy industry players, and the media, visited the Proven Sires Center of the Bureau of Biotechnology for Livestock Production of the Department of Livestock Development and the Farm Chokchai, an ecotourism-dairy farm based in Ratchasima province.
Ambassador Prasas Prasasvinitchai of the Royal Thai Embassy in Manila, who led the Thai delegation, has assured the Philippine government of support and cooperation, expressing his willingness to share the wealth of knowledge and experience of Thailand in dairy farming.
He also said Thailand will greatly benefit in forging bilateral cooperation with the Philippines, as he revealed that they are eyeing to learn from the Philippines' experience in improving its herd of the Murrah buffalo through a visit in the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and dairy carabao farms in Central Luzon.
Catbagan said the prospects for both countries are bright in pursuing bilateral cooperation in the dairy industry and is eyeing technology exchange as a possible major key component of such partnership.
Catbagan said the Philippines has started an artificial insemination program many years ago, but apparently needs a boost, noting that Thailand's sustained effort using biotechnological advances, particularly in artificial insemination of a superior breed of cattle, is a major factor in the development of the dairy industry here.
Through technology exchange, Catbagan hopes that the Filipino farmers would apply the new methods as how the Thais did when they were learning the tricks in the Philippines.
Through a massive artificial insemination program, Thailand was able to multiply its stock of superior breed of cattle both for meat and milk that are adaptive to its tropical climate: a 97 percent Holstein and 7 percent native.
Holstein dairy-cattle breed produces much better under a cooler environment, like New Zealand and Australia, from where the Philippines is importing its dairy cattle.
The artificial insemination program in Thailand started as early as the late 1950s, and research and development continues to receive government funding.
Artificial insemination centers with state-of-the-art facilities were put up nationwide, allowing farmers easy access to semen from proven sires.
Private agricultural companies that operate dairy farms are also getting support from the government, which gives sustainable production of dairy cattle a boost.
Cenas said the Philippines should be able to train more technicians and put up more artificial insemination centers in strategic parts of the country, where there is opportunity for dairy-cattle farming.
She said the Philippines is lagging 20 years behind Thailand's dairy cattle-herd build-up, milk production and processing. It is only through the transfer of available technology can it catch up with Thailand, she added.
Nuestro said the Philippines has a pool of experts just waiting to be tapped for a massive artificial insemination program, which is in fact what the PCC started a few years ago.
Under the proposed Dairy Roadmap 2010-16, artificial insemination is a key component in developing the Philippines' dairy industry.
Meanwhile, Cesar Sevilla, director of the Animal and Dairy Sciences Cluster of the University of the Philippines, a member of the Philippine delegation representing the academe, said simultaneously, research and development in nutrition and feeding systems should also be pursued along with the genetic improvement of dairy cattle.
He said the provision of support services should be funded accordingly, noting that government support to the industry, particularly small dairy farmers, is wanting.
Technicians should also be mobile and fully equipped with the needed tools of the trade for the program to succeed, noting that the window of opportunity for successful artificial insemination is short.
Sevilla explained that a technician should be able to artificially inseminate an in-heat cattle on time. Failure on his part will result to a 21-day delay of pregnancy.
Sevilla said there is a need to allocate budget for the storage of collected semen, particularly for the acquisition of liquid nitrogen. Since the Philippines is an island archipelago, there is a need to put up artificial insemination centers in strategic locations that will allow quick and timely insemination of in-heat dairy cattle, he said.
