Dairy capital of the Philippines

TOURIST destination Bohol province in the central Visayas region has been approved by local farmers and stakeholders to be the dairy capital of the Philippines.

The government aims to boost dairy and animal milk products from 1.2% of the national requirement to 10% by 2022, or total national milk production of 190,00 metric tonnes, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said in a news release.

The government-private sector partnership venture of the DA through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and the National Dairy Authority (NDA), will reduce imports of dairy.

The DA and stakeholders discussed the proposal with Israeli company Afimik and Fil-Argentinian genetics company Genex. It said it would initially import of 5,000 heads of Girolando dairy cattle from Brazil, guaranteed to be free of any disease.

“Since Brazil still vaccinates against Foot and Mouth Disease, the stocks being imported will go through strict OIE -World Organization for Animal Health supervised quarantine procedures which will take six months,” said Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.

According to PhilStar News, local dairy production grew 4% to 21,160 metric tonnes in 2016.