DAIRY INDUSTRY. Stakeholders sign a memorandum of agreement for the PHP40-million National Dairy Authority farmers livelihood center and feeds center at New Lucena, Iloilo on Feb. 16, 2024. The groundbreaking activity for the project is set in in Barangay Guinobatan on Oct. 28. (File photo courtesy of DA 6-Regional Agri-Fishery Information Section)
ILOILO CITY–The National Dairy Authority (NDA) is eyeing to increase the year-on-year population of dairy animals in Western Visayas by 12 percent with the establishment of a feed center in New Lucena, Iloilo province.
National Dairy Authority (NDA) - Western Visayas officer-in-charge manager Vicente Bitolinamisa III said in an interview Friday that the PHP40-million project will consist of the dairy farmers’ livelihood center and the feeds center, with space for feeds and milk laboratories and a training center
The groundbreaking ceremony in a three-hectare government lot in Barangay Guinobatan will be on Oct. 28.
The regional dairy farmers’ livelihood center, targeted for completion in October next year, will cater to Western Visayas and the Negros Island Region, while the feeds center, set to commence early 2025, can produce specialized feeds for ruminants.
“This is very significant. With the advent of the feed center, somehow, we can make feeds available to our interested farmers,” Bitolinamisa said.
The Department of Agriculture, NDA and the local government of New Lucena signed a memorandum of agreement for the project in February.
Once operational, the center is expected to produce 250 tons of corn silage and 50 tons of pelletized concentrates monthly.
Bitolinamisa said they foresee a 12-percent growth in dairy herds because they can infuse more animals with the readily available feeds.
The latest cattle inventory showed just a six percent year-on-year growth.
The region has over 10,000 animals on the ground -- 42 to 43 percent are milking while others are calves.
Increasing the herd population is one of the strategies to achieve milk production for feeding programs in public schools.
Iloilo is the biggest goat milk-producing province in the country, while Western Visayas, with its 2.2 million liters of milk produced annually, ranks third among milk-producing regions. (PNA)
