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Friday, August 26, 2005
Biz group encourages local milk production
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is eyeing local milk production as a potential source of income for farmers and a way to increase the local supply for manufacturers of dairy products.
That’s what Donald Dee, president of PCCI, said in a press interview during the Mandaue Business Forum at the Casino Español de Cebu Wednesday.
The country currently imports 95 percent of its total milk requirement.
Local milk producers should address the big demand, he said.
The country, however, does not have enough carabaos to produce the volume of milk needed.
“That’s why we will import from India high-breed buffalos or carabaos.
In fact, we already have close to 3,000 heads now in Nueva Ecija and Caba-natuan,” he said.
While carabaos in some farms in the country produce only three liters a day, the imported carabaos from India would produce at least eight liters of milk a day or 240 liters a month.
A high-breed carabao costs P35,000 and has a life span of 15 years, he said.
“The dairy farm that we are thinking of would initially be in the province of Pangasinan, but we also would support other potential farms in the country in coordination with PCCI’s area vice presidents and local chamber presidents,” Dee added.
Income
On the other hand, milk processing could also become a good secondary source of income for our farmers, Dee said.
“Most of them (farmers) don’t have anything to do after planting. They
would have to wait for a few months till it’s harvest time, he added.
Dee also revealed that PCCI, together with the national government and other business groups, has created a development fund for the country’s small businesses, with special preference to those that are from the labor-intensive and the food processing sectors.
“This is the first time in the history of the country that a government fund through the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) would be managed by the PCCI,” he said.
A P1-billion fund from the Industrial Guarantee Loan Fund and a P250-million loan fund from the private sector and PCCI members that contributed to this fund would be available nationwide by November, he said.
Local chambers, regional Department of Trade and Industry offices, LBP and DBP branches will help facilitate loan applications, while PCCI will evaluate them.
“When we evaluate, we won’t look at the collaterals but at the business’ market, technology and employment generation,” Dee assured potential borrowers. (ALC)
(August 26, 2005 issue)
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