Gov’t to spend P162 million on cattle imports

The government is importing more than a thousand cattle for P162 million to improve the genes of the local stock. In a newspaper ad on Monday, the Agriculture department invited suppliers for 1,200 heads of purebred American Brahman cattle and 25 bulls. The government has set the opening bid at P100,000. American Brahman is the first beef cattle breed developed in the US that has been one of the top choices in crossbreeding programs due to its "exceptional hardiness and physical stamina, its ability to…live twice as long as normally expected," according to the Website of the American Brahman Breeders Association. National Dairy Authority (NDA) Administrator Orkhan H. Usman earlier said his office had sought P450 million from the Budget for the cattle imports. Prices of foreign cattle, he said go up yearly. Last year, P450 million could still buy about 4,000 heads of dairy cattle. At today’s price of P125,000 per head, the country can only buy 3,600 of the animals with the same budget. The Philippines can supply only a percent of its dairy requirement, and growth in dairy production has slowed since 2006. The NDA’s goal is achieve liquid milk sufficiency in eight years. — Kristine Jane R. Liu, BusinessWorld