AN OFFICIAL of the National Dairy Authority (NDA) said there is still a shortage in the local milk production in Southern Mindanao.
In Monday's weekly media forum in Davao City, Marlon Flores, officer-in-charge of NDA Southern Mindanao, said with the 600 liters of milk per hour capacity of their production machineries in Bago Oshiro, Tugbok District, they only produce about a thousand liters per day.
Supposedly, 680 pregnant cows from New Zealand will be sent in the region by May to June this year to help increase the production but the cows did not pass the NDA standards so it was put off until the middle of next year.
According to Flores, the imported cows should be a cross breed which can last temperate and tropical temperatures.
“Dairy farming is really a big challenge for the farmers. First and foremost, the dairy products are very sensitive and get spoiled easily. Even if it’s challenging, there is still quite a few farmers who go on and engage in dairy farming,” said Flores.
To avoid spoilage of the milk, Flores said they see to it that within two hours of milk harvesting, the milk are already turned over to the plant while being stored in room temperature during transit. This is also to regulate food safety.
He also added they are continuing with their projects to assist farmers in terms of the breeding and acquisition of cows if needed in order to encourage them to invest in this kind of industry.
Flores said they lend cows to farmers and they pay NDA within four years with cows as well. He said around 360 livestock farmers benefited from their assistance.
For Southern Mindanao, around 4,000 liters of raw milk are produced every day. Half of this is being used for production of dairy products while the other half are for household consumption of the communities.
About 90 percent of those used for dairy production are produced as frozen milk bars which are sold in small sari-sari stores or outside school outlets. Ten percent are then produced as choco-flavored drinks or other similar products. Flores said these are just small-scale businesses by the farmers in the communities.
At present, Banay-banay, Davao Oriental has the biggest milk production in Southern Mindanao.