Lanao del Norte Is Land of MILK, not MILF
The biggest problem that Lanao del Norte is facing today is the perception of outsiders that the province is war-torn so that businessmen from outside the province are hesitant to invest in commercial projects there.
Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, the 29-year-old governor of the province, will tell you, however, that Lanao del Norte is very peaceful. He stresses that there are no MILF rebels in the province. In fact the provincial veterinarian, Dr. Usodan Samporna, quips that Lanao del Norte is the “Land of MILK, not MILF.”
What the provincial vet said is really true. Did you know that the biggest dairy cow operation is found in Lanao del Norte? This is the dairy farm put up by the Lanao Foundation, Inc., a private foundation, headed by Congressman Abdullah Dimaporo. Although he is a government official, he thought it wise that the huge project be operated as a private business. He probably knows very well that the government is a poor business operator.
The LFI Farm started with an initial importation of 50 head of Holstein-Sahiwal crosses from New Zealand in 2004, followed by 750 in 2005 and another 300 in 2006. Today, including their progenies, there are about 4,000 head distributed in several farms in the town of Sultan Naga Dimaporo. Milk is now produced by the tons daily which is processed in a huge processing plant with a capacity of 72,000 liters a day.
That’s a huge capacity that could only be filled up by a herd of no less than 20,000 cows, according to Dr. Samporna. The present milk production is way below the present processing capacity, but that’s probably the target of Congressman Dimaporo when he launched the project. And that is why under preparation now is the importation of additional 600 Holstein-Sahiwals.
And then, there is a new project hatched by LFI and Land O Lakes, the biggest cooperative in the United States which deals in dairy products. Land O Lakes is planning to put up three dairy zones in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Under the scheme, Land O Lakes will supply LFI with 250 breeders of dairy cows which will be raised in Lanao del Norte. The island-born offspring will then be bought by Land O Lakes for distribution in the planned dairy zones in the three regions of the country.
Dr. Samporna commented that the scheme is a winner. He explained that it would be much more expensive for Land O Lakes to supply the planned dairy zones with animals from the United States. The island-born cows will be less expensive and besides they would be more acclimated to the local environment. At present, bottled plain and flavoured fresh milk are processed at the milk processing plant. These are sold through outlets in major cities and towns in Mindanao, including Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro.
Most of the production, however, is supplied to the milk feeding program in the province whereby each pupil in about 200 elementary schools is provided 200 ml of milk a day. Dr. Samporna said that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is paying for the milk given to the school children. Last year, it allocated P10 million for this purpose.
Why Holstein-Sahiwal cross? LFI has chosen this crossbreed because it is highly adapted to tropical conditions. Although the pure Holstein Friesian yields a lot of milk, it is a temperate breed which could not stand the hot weather in the Philippines. The Sahiwal, on the other hand, is a hardy tropical breed that also gives some milk. The crosses have been yielding an average of eight liters of milk a day per head in Lanao, according to Dr. Samporna.
Another big livestock project is being readied by LFI not for milk but for meat production. A 600-hectare growing area is being readied for the arrival of 2,250 goats of the Savanna breed from Australia this September. Ten duplex goat houses have already been built and forage crops for the goats have been established. This will be the nucleus of a massive dispersal program in every barangay throughout the province.
Congressman Dimaporo explained that the Savanna is a strain derived from the original Boer goat from Africa, and developed in Australia. The traditional Boer is a combination of white and red or pure Red. On the other hand, the Savanna is a pure white strain. It is of intermediate size between the native goat and the traditional Boer. Its mature weight is about 60 kilos, which is twice that of the ordinary native goat. Congressman Dimaporo added that the Savanna is prolific and is hardy and therefore highly adapted to tropical conditions. The landed cost in the Philippines is also a lot cheaper than the standard Boer.
In 1993, long before the dairy project was started in 2005, Congressman Dimaporo who was then governor of the province, initiated a massive artificial insemination program of cattle and carabaos. A total of 60 technicians were trained at the Philippine Carabao Center in Bukidnon who did the provincewide artificial insemination. The native carabaos were inseminated with semen of Murrah buffalo to make them bigger in size and also to be used for possible milk production in the future. By 2003, the program had already produced 10,000 crossbreeds of carabaos and cattle, according to Dr. Samporna.
The carabao and cattle improvement program continues to this day under the stewardship of Gov. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo. In fact, many of the one-year-old crosses of the Murrah and the native carabao were showcased at the agri-fair held recently in conjunction with the 50th anniversary celebration of Lanao del Norte.
The A&A Farm, another private farm of the congressman, has a big herd of Murrah cows and purebred bulls which is now the source of breeding animals for dispersal. In 2006, Dr. Samporna said, no less than 100 Murrah bulls were dispersed to the different towns. This year, 30 Murrah bulls have been readied for dispersal. The next phase, according to the provincial vet is to encourage the farmers to milk their improved carabaos so they could have additional income as well as milk for their own consumption.
In the meantime, the young governor of the province, has been busy not only in espousing the agricultural projects started by his father. He is attending to social services, health care, education and infrastructure to improve the lives of his constituents, especially the less privileged. He has been inviting well known personalities and groups to his province so that they can witness for themselves how peaceful Lanao del Norte really is. In the end, he hopes that more investors will realize that there are excellent business opportunities waiting to be tapped.
By Zac B. Sarian