Manny Piñol: Cordillera's Potential as Dairy Capital of the Philippines
The incoming Agriculture secretary under the Duterte administration Secretary Manny Piñol reveals his plans for the Cordillera Region during his visit to the vast and very impressive countryside. According to Piñol he will do everything under his capacity to make Cordillera as the country's dairy capital.
Manny Piñol, the former Governor of North Cotabato visited Cordillera during his program dubbed "Biyaheng Bukid" together with dairy farmer and goat raiser Isidro Albano.
Sec. Piñol plans to used the Department of Agriculture's 85-hectare dairy stock farm in Baguio City, part of which is now being occupied by squatters. The facility could be turned into a breeding and training facility for farmers who would like to participate in the program.
Here's the Complete Post of Manny Piñol:
Biyaheng Bukid Cordillera 2
THE CORDILLERAS' POTENTIAL
AS COUNTRY'S DAIRY CAPITAL
By Manny Piñol
Baguio City has fascinated me no end not only because of its cool climate but because of the warmth of its people, many of whom are my friends.
But I have never really ventured out of the city to discover what lies beyond the blue mountains.
On Saturday, the Biyaheng Bukid team, which has now become larger as local agriculture officials have started to join the journey, took the long trip from Baguio City to Banaue in Ifugao Province.
I started this journey after President Rody Duterte named me as his agriculture secretary almost a month ago and I am now on the second leg of the nation-wide trip going up north.
What I saw along the way made me fall in love even more with the Cordilleras and its people.
The mountain tribes are basically a shy people but they are very industrious, carving out of the mountain sides areas to be planted to rice and vegetables.
Along the way, I saw vegetables and paddy rice planted by the roadside.
What is amazing, however, is how the people have protected the mountains and preserved their traditions.
The people are not rich but they appeared to be happy which made me remember that old Chinese saying: "Good Mountain, Good Water, Good Life."
In this journey, I continuously asked myself what else could be done to make these people benefit even more from what they have?
With the help of an old friend, dairy farmer and fellow goat raiser Isidro Albano,who I asked to join me in this trip to the Cordilleras, we considered the cool climate and the industrious people in drawing up the plan to turn the region into becoming the dairy capital of the country.
You see, the country has always been dependent on imported dairy and milk products.
Local dairy farmers only contributed 1% to the annual dairy and milk requirements of the country which is a P25-billion industry.
A check with the Department of Agriculture regional office showed that there are only 40 dairy cows in the region which now yield an average of seven litres a day per head.
Given the right breed and the correct technology, the milk production could easily increase owing mainly to the very ideal climate.
Feeds are readily available as the region is surrounded by rice and corn producing regions of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Central Luzon.
Besides, the region produces a lot of vegetables and carrots, the rejects of which could be used as feeds for both the cattle or the goats.
The DA has an 85-hectare dairy stock farm in Baguio City part of which is now being occupied by squatters.
The facility could be turned into a breeding and training facility for farmers who would like to participate in the program.
Yesterday, I presented the idea of dairy cattle raising to a group of farmers who plant the rare Tinawon rice which is harvested only once a year and they were very excited about the prospects of making more money without necessarily altering their traditional farm practices.
The idea that I have now is to encourage the Heirloom (that's what they call the native rice grown in the terraces) rice farmers to become dairy farmers as well by keeping 2 to 4 dairy cows in the back of their homes fed with the hay from the organic rice that they plant and supplemented with feeds made out of the produce of the lowlands.
We estimated that the families would earn an additional P800 a day but more than that they will be able to produce their own organic fertiliser to enrich the soil in the paddies which has never been fertilised for generations.
There are available Holstein dairy cattle now in a private ranch in Batangas which could be used for this program.
But we have to conduct an orientation and training first to make sure that the farmers truly understand the technology of raising dairy cattle.
This early I am convinced that the enthusiasm shown by the farmers when I talked to them yesterday and the cool climate will surely make the Cordilleras the country's dairy capital.
#Change is coming.
(Photos by John Pagaduan and Bobong Piñol.)
Source: Manny Pinol FB Page
Manny Piñol, the former Governor of North Cotabato visited Cordillera during his program dubbed "Biyaheng Bukid" together with dairy farmer and goat raiser Isidro Albano.
Sec. Piñol plans to used the Department of Agriculture's 85-hectare dairy stock farm in Baguio City, part of which is now being occupied by squatters. The facility could be turned into a breeding and training facility for farmers who would like to participate in the program.
Here's the Complete Post of Manny Piñol:
Biyaheng Bukid Cordillera 2
THE CORDILLERAS' POTENTIAL
AS COUNTRY'S DAIRY CAPITAL
By Manny Piñol
Baguio City has fascinated me no end not only because of its cool climate but because of the warmth of its people, many of whom are my friends.
But I have never really ventured out of the city to discover what lies beyond the blue mountains.
On Saturday, the Biyaheng Bukid team, which has now become larger as local agriculture officials have started to join the journey, took the long trip from Baguio City to Banaue in Ifugao Province.
I started this journey after President Rody Duterte named me as his agriculture secretary almost a month ago and I am now on the second leg of the nation-wide trip going up north.
What I saw along the way made me fall in love even more with the Cordilleras and its people.
The mountain tribes are basically a shy people but they are very industrious, carving out of the mountain sides areas to be planted to rice and vegetables.
Along the way, I saw vegetables and paddy rice planted by the roadside.
What is amazing, however, is how the people have protected the mountains and preserved their traditions.
The people are not rich but they appeared to be happy which made me remember that old Chinese saying: "Good Mountain, Good Water, Good Life."
In this journey, I continuously asked myself what else could be done to make these people benefit even more from what they have?
With the help of an old friend, dairy farmer and fellow goat raiser Isidro Albano,who I asked to join me in this trip to the Cordilleras, we considered the cool climate and the industrious people in drawing up the plan to turn the region into becoming the dairy capital of the country.
You see, the country has always been dependent on imported dairy and milk products.
Local dairy farmers only contributed 1% to the annual dairy and milk requirements of the country which is a P25-billion industry.
A check with the Department of Agriculture regional office showed that there are only 40 dairy cows in the region which now yield an average of seven litres a day per head.
Given the right breed and the correct technology, the milk production could easily increase owing mainly to the very ideal climate.
Feeds are readily available as the region is surrounded by rice and corn producing regions of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Central Luzon.
Besides, the region produces a lot of vegetables and carrots, the rejects of which could be used as feeds for both the cattle or the goats.
The DA has an 85-hectare dairy stock farm in Baguio City part of which is now being occupied by squatters.
The facility could be turned into a breeding and training facility for farmers who would like to participate in the program.
Yesterday, I presented the idea of dairy cattle raising to a group of farmers who plant the rare Tinawon rice which is harvested only once a year and they were very excited about the prospects of making more money without necessarily altering their traditional farm practices.
The idea that I have now is to encourage the Heirloom (that's what they call the native rice grown in the terraces) rice farmers to become dairy farmers as well by keeping 2 to 4 dairy cows in the back of their homes fed with the hay from the organic rice that they plant and supplemented with feeds made out of the produce of the lowlands.
We estimated that the families would earn an additional P800 a day but more than that they will be able to produce their own organic fertiliser to enrich the soil in the paddies which has never been fertilised for generations.
There are available Holstein dairy cattle now in a private ranch in Batangas which could be used for this program.
But we have to conduct an orientation and training first to make sure that the farmers truly understand the technology of raising dairy cattle.
This early I am convinced that the enthusiasm shown by the farmers when I talked to them yesterday and the cool climate will surely make the Cordilleras the country's dairy capital.
#Change is coming.
(Photos by John Pagaduan and Bobong Piñol.)
Source: Manny Pinol FB Page
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Manny Piñol: Cordillera's Potential as Dairy Capital of the Philippines
Reviewed by Anne Reyes
on
June 12, 2016
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Reviewed by Anne Reyes
on
June 12, 2016
Rating:
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