To establish and pursue streamlined, efficient, and sustainable dairy initiatives and services, the National Dairy Authority (NDA) conducted its 2022 Year-end Assessment and 2023-2024 Target-setting and Planning Workshop on January 23-27, 2023 at the National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines, Marikina City.

                                              

“Our ultimate goal is to maximize our farm resources to manage more milking cows, leading to improved profits for our dairy farmers,” NDA Acting Administrator Gabriel L. Lagamayo stated.

The newly-appointed acting administrator explained that NDA’s focus areas for the next five years under his leadership target is to put the dairy farmers at the forefront and the absolute beneficiaries of all services and value addition of the Authority. These include retooling of field services, restructuring of animal loans programs, investing in mechanization, and promoting digitalization, among others, which will put a premium to the overall welfare of the dairy farmers.

“We give farmers what is due them, and by doing so, we need to shape the direction of the NDA first and foremost. Our farmers must feel on the ground why we exist – our relevance,” Dr. Lagamayo said.

Presentation of updates

The five-day assessment and planning workshop included a series of presentations from NDA’s lead officers on the 2022 accomplishments of their respective departments.

Highlighting NDA’s accomplishments are two of its flagship programs, the Dairy Herd Build-Up and the Dairy Enterprise Development Programs, which are continuously gaining momentum and sectoral gains, leading to an increase in production volume and value under the livestock sector, at 15.1% and 19.8%, respectively.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the gross value of livestock production in 2022 amounted to Php 375.52 billion (B) at current prices, where total dairy production reached 30.28 thousand metric tons from 26.30 thousand MT in 2021, and grossed at Php 1.7 B at current prices, from Php 1.4 B in 2021. PSA further noted that the positive growth in dairy is owed to higher production and increase in prices.

NDA’s Corporate Planning (CorPlan) Department reported that as of 2022, there are 875 barangays, 409 municipalities, and 64 provinces benefiting from NDA’s programs, with a total of 2,359 dairy farmers with animal holdings across the country.

Accomplishments from major activities and programs were also presented including locally-funded and foreign-assisted projects, credit programs, business development, and information campaigns, among others.

Nucleus Farms

With a new task environment, NDA drafted a blueprint from which all programs and projects will build foundation from. Carrying a systems-oriented approach, the establishment of the dairy nucleus farms will take on center stage to launch and institutionalize reproduction technologies for cattle improvement in the Philippines.

The dairy nucleus farms will be the key enabler of many on-farm innovations that will intensify the production of local and quality dairy cattle breeds.

Nueva Ecija, Bohol, and Davao are the proposed sites of the nucleus farms, which will feature 100 milking cows per farm, and will offer services such as training, education, and research; and health and nutrition. Further, said farms target to generate local employment and promote agri-eco tourism.

“We want to also come up with specialized farms which are dedicated for young stock management, and production farms which will focus heavily on breeding and milking. Our goal is to manage more milking cows, and we will use a holistic approach and smart technologies to achieve this,” Dr. Lagamayo emphasized.

With the CorPlan Department backstopping the strategic planning as part of the tall order of the Administrator, NDA is set to implement programs banking on competitive advantage of the dairy industry.

Milk Feeding Program

NDA’s Milk Feeding Program (MFP) continues to be the base market of the local dairy farmers, through the Department of Education’s (DepEd) School-based Feeding Program (SBFP). The DepEd, along with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), provides a sure market for local dairy farmers, as their locally-produced milk remains to be its priority for said program.

As of December 2022, a total of 14.8 million liters of milk were provided and consumed by 2.8 million school children under the MFP.

In partnership with DepEd and DSWD, NDA ensures continued opportunities for farmers in producing and satisfying the demands of the MFP.

Way forward

According to Dr. Lagamayo, restructuring the dairy value chain is the way to go. “We begin by actually retooling the basics – our field services that include animal husbandry, breeding, nutrition, and animal health, among others,” he said.

These initiatives, the Administrator added, “will lay the foundation for the next generation of quality dairy cows that are owned and raised by local farmers.”

He furthered that NDA’s strategy map must be revisited, and will be subjected to a nationwide dairy stakeholders’ consultation. A strategic planning is set for May 2023, and the final plan is expected to come out late this year. ### (Daryl Lou A. Battad, NDA-CorPlan)