The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. (PCAF) is advocating for increased dairy cattle imports and advancements in artificial insemination (AI) technology to bolster the country’s domestic dairy production. PCAF President Danilo V. Fausto emphasized the importance of expanding the dairy herd through imports and enhancing AI capabilities. He also called for the government to invest in training and incentivizing AI technicians. The National Dairy Authority (NDA) has also initiated plans to import dairy cattle for its stock farms, with the goal of distributing their offspring to local dairy farmers.
Despite these efforts, the Philippines remains heavily reliant on dairy imports to meet its domestic demand. To address this, the PCAF is pushing for the passage of the Philippine Livestock Industry Development Act, which would allocate funds from dairy product imports to support the growth of the domestic dairy industry.
The proposed legislation aims to streamline the management of the dairy industry and strengthen the regulatory role of the NDA. The NDA is targeting to increase the dairy sufficiency level to 2.66% by 2025. The US Department of Agriculture forecasts that Philippine dairy imports will reach 3.1 million metric tons in liquid milk equivalent by 2025, while domestic production is expected to increase to 30,000 metric tons.
(Source: Business World Online)
