The Department of Agriculture (DA) will soon develop Bohol as the country’s dairy capital, and establish a state-of-the-art dairy farm in the province.
During Piñol’s recent visit in Tagbilaran, the agri chief shared his vision of seeing Bohol as a producer of milk and milk products to be sold in major supermarkets across the country.
“Boholanos have a culture of kindness and soft-heartedness. They are honest, hardworking, and God-fearing. It was my personal choice to establish the biggest dairy project here because of these traits,” Piñol underscored.
“I want to see grocery shelves filled with milk products made here in the future,” he said.
The Agriculture Department has been pushing for the establishment of a dairy farm in the province since last year to augment the milk demands of Filipinos, which are mostly imported.
With only 1.2% share in the national dairy requirement, DA seeks to attain a 10% increase in local production by 2022.
The Philippine government, thru DA will acquire 55,000 heads of Girolando dairy cattle, known for its capability to produce 100 liters of milk per day. With the newly acquired cattle, 22,000 liters of milk may be expected annually.
The cattle will be sourced from Mexico, an FMD-free country without vaccination.
DA was originally set to get dairy cattle from Argentina, but because the country only maintains an FMD-free status with vaccination, the Agency sees it more fit to get the animals from Mexico.
“This comes after the consultation with the livestock industry stakeholders who raised concerns about this matter. We will not ignore their voices,” Piñol said.
“The agri chief was in Tagbilaran, Bohol on March 15 for the Incident Command System Course for Bohol Mayors, where he awarded over P440 million-worth of agriculture and fishery assistance.
The interventions included motorized boats, gillnets, payao’s or fish aggregating devices, community fish landing center, non-motorized fiberglass boats for seaweeds, seeds and other planting implements.
Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco who also graced the event encouraged the local chief executives to develop their local agriculture in support to the tourism of Bohol, which considered as one of the top tourists destinations in the country.
“Tourism is a very fragile industry. A security threat can change everything. And since agriculture provides food for the tourists and the locals alike, this sector must be developed and taken care of,” he said.
Evasco also urged the mayors to take advantage of DA’s mechanization program and use this to attract the younger generation to venture in agriculture. The said initiative aims to provide technical and mechanical assistance to aid the farmers from their pre- to post-production activities. This is in response to the alarming age average of Filipino farmers, recorded at 57 years old. (DA-AFID)
Photo shows Sec. Manny inspecting one of the motorized boats awarded during his visit.
