The National Dairy Authority (NDA) said Tuesday that the Philippines aims to hit half of its milk production and sufficiency target by next year.

Speaking at the agency’s 29th founding anniversary celebration in Quezon City, NDA Officer-in-charge Administrator Gavino Alfredo Benitez said it is feasible with strategic efforts in place.

“I am pleased to share that based on the figures we have received, we project that by 2025 we shall be halfway through our goal, with milk production by then at about 40 million liters,” he said.

This volume is half of the NDA’s 80 million liters production target by 2028 or equivalent to 5 percent milk self-sufficiency.

The projected volume turnout is in line with the Philippine Dairy Industry Roadmap from 2020 to 2025.

The NDA earlier forged an agreement with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to achieve such turnout by establishing stock farms in ancestral domains in the country.

Other key strategies involve improving herd growth and the livelihood of dairy farmers.

For its part, the Department of Agriculture expressed support for the NDA’s target to boost local milk production.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said around PHP3 billion fund shall be invested in the establishment of four dairy zones across the country.

Likewise, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. cited the budget as a good start to put up laboratory facilities in Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

PCAFI president Danilo Fausto also pushed for an increased support and investment from the private sector.

“We are proposing a five percent requirement for this year that all commercial and multinational company selling dairy products should source five percent of their requirements in the country,” Fausto said.

Benitez, meanwhile, highlighted the NDA’s persistent work with partner agencies amid the increasing demand for milk consumption.

“We have assisted the dairy farmers’ participation in the nationwide milk feeding programs of the DepEd (Department of Education) and the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” he said.

In January, the NDA supported the DepEd’s “Lakas sa Gatas” campaign, which aimed to increase milk consumption among learners alongside patronizing production of local dairy farmers.

The NDA has also been supplying milk for the DSWD’s Milk Feeding Program in Child Development Centers and Supervised Neighborhood Playgroups. (PNA)