Can we sustain our dairy industry?

Much of our milk and cheese are imported because our country lacks grazing pastures for the ruminants and large cows have difficulty sourcing their food from the usual foraging areas and prices of imported grains are constantly rising.

Exactly a month ago, the Inquirer featured the dairy industry’s prospects amid a climate change and the rapid urbanization of erstwhile pastures thereby hampering the growth of the local diary sector.

The prolonged dry season from El Nino and the lack of feed centers have brought cattle, carabaos and goats to produce much less milk for a growing population, making Filipinos even more reliant on imported dairy.

”It’s a recurring problem for the farmers looking for quality feed. So most of the feeds are coming from their pasture. But now the trend is to buy from external sources, mainly consisting of corn [and] spent grains. But the materials are getting very expensive,” explains Menandro Loresco, professor at Dairy Training and Research Institute of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Benjamin Albarece, for ruminant livestock, said the country does not have good hay, nor can it produce much silage or animal feed made from green forage crops, unlike dairy powerhouses New Zealand and Australia.

The country is working on its own silage. “Silage-making has become a new sunrise industry. Cooperatives are now producing silage mainly for the dairy industry,” Albarece said in a forum hosted by Alaska Milk Corp. (AMC) in celebration of World Milk Day.

As of 2023, the National Dairy Authority (NDA) said the Philippines produced about 18,000 metric tons of milk, accounting for just 0.8 percent of the country’s annual milk consumption of 1.937 million metric tons. Local milk production last year saw a 5-percent decline, the paper added.

The rapid land conversions brought by urbanization led to the transformation of agricultural lands into commercial and industrial uses. “In the ’70s, we had about 4 million hectares of grassland. Now we only have about less than a million or even lower than that,” Loresco adds.

Still, increasing local milk production is part of “a strategy to promote food security, help solve malnutrition and increase the income of farmers in the dairy sector,” says lawyer Gavino Alfredo Benitez, NDA OIC-Administrator.

The NDA is currently active in 67 provinces, managing 3,000 farmers with livestock and 250 cooperatives across the country. “Dairy farming is more than just an occupation. It is a way of life and a lifeline. Dairy farming supports thousands of families locally, providing a stable source of income and fostering rural development,” Benitez adds.

Benitez noted that local dairy herds are increasing albeit smaller compared with other dairy-producing countries. “Several large foreign companies have signified interest in investing in dairy in the country. They plan to put up large-scale integrated dairy farms within the millions of dollars and which require large plots of land,” he adds.

A sustainable dairy farm can ensure the uninterrupted supply of dairy products in the local market, Loresco said, adding that the country needs a billion cows in order to be self-sufficient. Other than high-feed production, the industry must also consider factors that directly affect soil fertility, he noted.

Loresco stressed the need to build more storage facilities, where feeds can be preserved especially during the dry season. “You might have a lot of good animals, but you don’t have [enough] feed to supply the animals,” he adds. ROSE DE LA CRUZ

“We are now focusing on how to mitigate greenhouse gas production to reduce global warming, which is affecting not only the farming community but all of us,” he says.

The NDA is building more regional feed centers and water pumping stations. Although just “temporary measures,” these are seen to help increase productivity, Benitez said.

Albarece cited the importance of collaborations with various sectors to help accelerate the development of this industry.

Private firms such as AMC have been helping by training dairy farmers. In addition, AMC’s mother company, Netherlands-based Friesland Campina, intends to buy milk from the Philippines, in an effort to boost the global competitiveness of local dairy producers.

Liezel Atienza, professor at the Institute of Human Nutrition and Food of UPLB, notes that most Filipinos are lactose-intolerant. She says that this is due to the absence of milk and other dairy products in their daily consumption.

“We are not really milk drinkers in the Philippines. The prevalence of calcium deficiency is around 95 percent. So it’s like nine out of 10 of Filipinos are calcium-deficient,” she adds.

Undernutrition remains a serious problem among Filipino children aged 5 to 10, with about 2.7 million children being too short for their age, potentially affecting their cognitive and physical development.

AMC wants to promote milk consumption as part of a balanced and healthy diet. Tarang Gupta, managing director of AMC, describes milk as “white gold”—in its purest form a whole source of nutrition. “Dairy creates an impact from end to end in any community, whether you are in the farms raising cows or at home preparing a nutritious meal,” Gupta adds.

By educating consumers about the comprehensive nutritional benefits of milk and ensuring access to high-quality yet affordable dairy products, we can contribute significantly to fostering healthier communities,” says Estela Estacio, marketing director of AMC.