Cattle population up 21.5%

NEGROS Occidental’s cattle population increased by 21.5 percent during the opening of the 16th Dairy Congress and Expo at the Bacolod Pavillon Hotel on Thursday, according to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr.

Marañon said that, from 1,072 heads in January 2012, the cattle population in the province increased to 1,303 at the end of December 2012.

He said this is part of the food security initiative under the Negros First Agenda of his administration.

"We Negrenses take pride because today, as per data from the Department of Agriculture, Negros Occidental now ranks number 9 in rice production from number 10 in the DA roster of Top 10 Palay Producing Provinces in the country. This was because our rice production rose to 471,500 metric tons in 2011 from 436,308 metric tons in 2010," Marañon said.

The opening of the 16th Dairy Congress and Expo was also attended yesterday by Philip Shull, Agriculture Counsellor of USDA-FAS, New Zealand Ambassador-Designate Reuben Levermore, National Dairy Administrator Grace Cenas and Batangas Rep. Mark Llandro Mendoza, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.

Marañon also bared that, in 2012 alone, the province's milk production reached 404,855 liters, a slight improvement from the 2011 output of about 400,000 liters.

He said that the Provincial Government mounted a milk-feeding program which has benefited 9,502 severely underweight school children. (TDE)