NDA needs more budget to increase milk production

The National Dairy Authority, an agency under the Department of Agriculture, is seeking a raise   in its  annual budget  of  P500 million, to enable it to increase its production  and  meet at least five  percent of the country’s milk requirement, now addressed mostly by imported processed milk product brands.

NDA Administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya said improving the  country’s milk self-sufficiency rate will  entail significant investments, which its current budget would not allow it to hit the target for milk self-sufficiency.

He told reporters that without a budgetary increase, it would be highly impossible to achieve even 5 percent milk sufficiency by 2028.

Andaya said the agency stands to receive P537 million under the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), slightly higher than its 2024 budget of P522 million.

“If the P500 million budget would be doubled, then we will be able to double milk production,” Andaya was quoted by Business Mirror saying.

The NDA targets to up its annual domestic production to 80 million liters, equivalent to 5 percent milk self sufficiency by 2028.

In 2023, milk production was at 28.86 million liters. In the first half of 2024, it produced 16.02 million liters, NDA data showed.

Andaya said the country’s milk self-sufficiency stood at 1.54 percent as of June and their target is to raise it to 2.66 percent by 2025 and eventually to 5 percent by increasing herd size and yield.

The agency would start importing dairy cattle as soon as its 2025 budget gets approved. Andaya noted that the imported dairy cattle would be placed in NDA’s stock farms around the country and the offspring would be dispersed to farmers. 

The NDA said the stock farms set to be completed this year are in Tinio, Nueva Ecija; Ubay, Bohol; Malaybalay, Bukidnon; Carmen, Cotabato; and Agusan Del Sur. These will be operationalized next year. 

He said the agency will keep breeding the dairy cattle to increase the volume of milk production. 

Andaya also said the NDA is expecting the arrival of at least 600 imported dairy cattle from Australia in July 2025. “Within the same year, the dairy cattle will be able to produce milk.”

Meanwhile, the NDA chief expressed the hope that the proposed livestock bill, which aims to make the livestock and poultry industries more competitive, will be passed into law. 

Under the proposed bill, a livestock, poultry, and dairy competitiveness enhancement fund (LPD Fund) will be created. The LPD fund will receive an annual appropriation of P7.8 billion from the tariff collections on imported LPD commodities within 10 years following its effectivity. 

“NDA is hopeful that the bill will be signed into law because it will boost our efforts to expand the local dairy cattle herd,” said Andaya. 

“Tariffs from imports may be used to import more dairy cows and will allow the government to help more farmers.”

The NDA just recently published its need for dairy farmers and farmlands to boost annual milk production. It said those interested can send a letter of intent to the NDA for guidance. 

“We want to emphasize that it is so easy for everyone, for each Filipino, to become a dairy farmer,” Andaya told reporters..

“Many people think dairy farming is difficult. All you have to do is, if you have land, then send a letter of intent. We will evaluate that, we will assess your land if it is suitable for dairy farming, and if it is, you are okay,” said Andaya.

He said once the NDA’s technical people confirm that the land is appropriate for dairy farming and evaluate the interested farm owner’s capacity, the applicant will be added to the list of recipients eligible to receive cattle to take care of.

The NDA has been coordinating with the commercial sector and local producers to absorb a certain portion of milk output.

Even though the country’s milk self-sufficiency level has increased to over 1 percent as of June year, the path of achieving full self-sufficiency remains a challenge given the limited budget, the Inquirer added.