ANYTIME soon, Bohol dairy farmers could get a good cash windfall, as the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and the National Dairy Authority (NDA) has approved a P20 increase in the farm-gate buying price for a liter of milk.
From the current P50.00 buying price for a liter of raw and unprocessed milk, the government’s institutions supporting the industry are reportedly willing to bring up the buying price to P70.00 a liter.
Bohol Dairy Cooperative (BODACO) Board of Director Fernando Dupalco, in a recent interview said they are convening with the BODACO board anytime to formally lay the mechanics for the increase, which would significantly help farmers earn more and improve their lives.
In Bohol, after the Philippine Carabao Center released the research on the viability of milking cow and carabao, especially those of better breeds than the native, it could alleviate the lives of dairy farmers.
Starting with a cow or carabao giving out a calf, these animals to produce milk for the young, but such are in excess, more than what the calf needs every day.
For a native carabao, after the calf has hand its fill, farmers can still gather a liter of milk a day, and that is P50 more of income.
According to the PCC study, farmers whose milked livestock are of better breeds like the crossbreeds and the hybrids, they could collect 10 more liters of milk per head, all of these are excess milk of the calf.
And you do not have major chances in the farmer’s daily routine.
You still wake up early for the pasture, bring it back to the milking shed by 7, leave it under some shade, bring it out at early PM to graze and milk it by 4, then it’s on to the shed until morning, Dupalco said.
That, he said is also almost the same routine for every livestock owner, and if you get an extra cash for that, who would say no?, he asks.
Dupalco who has 6 female carabaos and a bull, is now looking at more milk in the coming months as four of his crossbreeds and hybrid animals are pregnant.
In fact, for those who do not seem like eager to get the animal out for pasture, a kilogram of concentrated commercial feeds has been tested to add a liter of milk, he shared.
You but concentrated feeds at P35 and you get P70 on that, that is still a fair deal, he summed.
On the record, a dairy farmer in Bohol in Bohol gas earned over a thousand pesos a day from the milk sales, according to the Office of the Provincial veterinarian.
In Bohol, the Provincial Milk Feeding Program has significantly increased the demand for locally produced milk, opening up a door of opportunity for farmers in the dairy sector.
Then implemented in 9 towns in Bohol near Ubay where the milk processing facilities are located, the dairy industry here has spread to 13 more towns, whose dairy farmers can now enjoy the extra income.
Dairy production is now implemented in Tubigon, Sagbayan, Carmen Danao, Clarin, San Isidro, Catigbian, Antequera, Balilihan, Corella, Sevilla, Sikatuna and Batuan. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
