Agriculture

THE NATIONAL Dairy Authority is eyeing more cattle imports and stronger funding streams to whip the industry into higher productivity. The country’s dairy industry remains import-dependent for decades, as local production can only meet a miniscule amount due to the lack of sufficient government funding, private sector investments and proper infrastructure. The country is now gearing to meet a milk …

EXECUTIVE Order 116, which increased the minimum access volume for pork to 204,210 metric tons for 2026, of which 30,000 MT will be given to food processors while 120,000 MT for the Food Terminal Inc. leading the balance of 54,210 to other importers would create supply chain disruptions and would create “unfair competition.” Apparently, the government wants to take over …

ABOUT 49 provinces – mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao– may experience below-normal rainfall by October when meteorologists expect the emergence of a “very strong” El Niño, said  Science Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. Most of the provinces affected will experience rainfall of only 41 to 80 percent of the average. By November, some areas in Northern Luzon may experience way-below-normal …

BEYOND ELLIPTICALBy Rose Marie de la Cruz I MIGHT have missed Dr. Bernie Villegas’ part 1 of his column  in the Bulletin on “A call for more food banks”   I have also been writing about the need for government to ease up on bureaucratic requirements for street-based food banks like that of Maginhawa, Quezon City because this means feeding …

AFTER BEING cleared of African Swine Fever, Taiwan’s pork can now enter the Philippines. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the Philippines can now import domestic and wild pigs and its by-products, including meat, pig skin and semen from Taiwan. The DA said it had confirmed all reported cases of ASF in Taiwan were resolved with no additional outbreak …

BEYOND ELLIPTICALBy Rose Marie de la Cruz I BEG to disagree with the forecast of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. about rice retail prices reaching P62 per kilogram by September. In my last trip to the public markets in the third week of April, I saw prices ranging from P55 to P60 with some reaching as high as P64/kg …

ON September 16, 2021 a simultaneous national bamboo and tree planting activity was held in celebration of the World Bamboo Day and to promote commercial planting. Bamboo– aside from its vital role in preventing soil erosion, floods and other negative impacts of climate change–  also has a lot of commercial, industrial and infrastructure uses.  What led to the commercialization and …

OCEANA, an international conservation NGO, raised possible alarm about the possible water and fish contamination near the Navotas landfill since the garbage fire on April 10 that affected around 90 percent of the 44-hectare sanitary landfill, emitting toxic smoke that brought the air quality in northern Metro Manila (the whole of Quezon City), Bulacan and Bataan to dangerous levels. Oceana’s …

BEYOND ELLIPTICALBy Rose Marie de la Cruz THE FUEL crisis triggered by the ongoing war in Iran is definitely affecting the food supply chain and energy programs of the world. Its  negative impact in the Philippines is on food and energy supply which all depend on petrochemicals. Prices of urea—the most used chemical fertilizer in our farms– have skyrocketed to …

DAIRY imports in 2025 declined by 3 percent as a result of 3.388 million metric tons in liquid milk equivalent (MMT-LME) down from 3.5 MMT-LME in 2024 because of better milk production, according to the National Dairy Authority (NDA). This is because the country’s milk production surged to a record-high of 43.3 million liters in 2025, according to the Philippine …