The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) has called for the full implementation of a law requiring commercial milk processors and traders to secure a portion of their milk supply from local sources.
Danilo Fausto, PCAFI president, said in an aid memoire dated March 7 to Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. the full implementation of
Section 17 of the National Dairy Development Act of 1995 will jumpstart the development of the local industry.
“We recommend to require the commercial sector to secure their milk supply from local sources at least five percent of their total requirement, either in full or staggered basis over a certain fixed period,” Fausto said in the document.
Fausto said if processors and traders fail to comply, they must “establish their own dairy farm in the Philippines to supply their requirement and not to import from other countries.”
He said a special safeguard duty should be imposed on imported milk if these entities continue to source from other countries.
The DA through the National Dairy Authority (NDA) aims to boost the country’s milk output to 80 million liters by 2028. This, however, is a small portion of the projected demand of 2.143 million metric tons (MT) by 2028.
NDA said increasing milk output 2.5 times over the next five years requires a dramatic increase in the number of animals in the milking line, enhancement of dairy productivity, expansion of distribution networks, construction of additional dairy-related infrastructures and promotion of the consumption of local milk and dairy products.
NDA records show milk produced from cattle in 2023 reached 17,850 MT, which is 0.8 percent of total milk consumption of 1.937 million MT.
Consumption rose 1,372 MT in 2023 from 2022 and NDA projects this to reach 1.978 million MT this year.