A non-government organization based in southern Mindanao says the malnutrition problem in the country can be addressed by raising goats.
The Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc., in barangay Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, is batting for raising goats as a solution to the malnutrition problem, particularly those experienced in the uplands.
“By raising goats, upland farmers can have milk every day,” says MBRLC Director Jethro P. Adang. “Milk is one of the most complete foods. That’s why milk is the only source of food in the early months of a newborn baby.”
Nutritionists say milk is a good source of several important nutrients: a glass of milk reportedly contains calcium, protein, iodine, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and vitamins B2, B12 and D.
Unfortunately, milk is not traditionally a part of the Filipino diet. In fact, most parents think their children already get enough nutrition from eating rice, the staple food of Filipinos.
The result: malnutrition, a significant challenge in the country. A study conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in 2003 has found out that 26 out of every 100-primary school-age children (aged 6-10 years old) were under weight and 37 out of every 100 were under height.
The scenario is even worse in the uplands, rolling to steep areas where both agriculture and forestry are practiced on slopes ranging 18% upward. The diets of uplanders are found to be inadequate, both in quantity and quality. Based on the studies done in Palawan, second- and third-degree malnutrition ranging from 41%-47% is prevalent among the upland population.
“Mental development is affected as a result of the lack of protein and balance in the diet of people in the uplands,” wrote journalist Joel D. Adriano, quoting an Education for All report of the Department of Education. “Among children, this causes lower IQs, poor school attendance and shorter attention spans. They are prone to repeat grades, drop out of school or underperform.”
A potential remedy for the issue of malnutrition, according to experts, is the provision of milk to these children. However, a pertinent question arises: from where will the milk be sourced given that the nation’s dairy industry is significantly underdeveloped?
“While the dairy sector is crucial for our economic and nutritional advancement,” Adang says, “we are still falling behind in production relative to other Asian nations.”
In 2022, the Philippines produced about 24.38 million liters of milk. This remarkable production increase can be attributed to the use of improved farming techniques and the introduction of imported dairy cattle breeds. The country processes around 23.5 million liters of milk annually.
But what the country produced is not enough. “Due to increasing domestic demand, the Philippines imports about 110,000 metric tons of dairy products each year,” the Dairy News Today reports.
As the country provides less than two percent of its dairy requirements, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) believes the Philippines will continue to rely on imports to meet the requirements of its growing domestic and export markets.
“At present, dairy production in the Philippines is heavily dependent on imports,” said the National Dairy Authority (NDA), whose main task is to create a thriving dairy sector to increase milk production in the country. “There is a need for the industry to accelerate and increase local production to lessen our dependence on import.”
That’s good news for Filipino farmers who want to engage in milk production. There are three chief sources of milk: cattle, carabao and goat. Most of the liquid milk consumed by Filipinos comes from cattle (64%). The rest is provided by carabao (33%) and goats (3%).
Of the three animals, the goat is the least expensive to raise and its milk is the best for infants and children. In addition, goat milk is less likely to cause allergy in humans, especially infants, than cow or carabao milk.
Adang believes that by raising goats, Filipino farmers can help augment milk production in the country and lessen the malnutrition problem among children, especially those living in rural and upland areas.
“If only more and more farmers will raise goats in their farms, the health status of our children will improve,” Adang points out. “Not only that, our importation of milk and other dairy products will further decrease.”
Mario G. Montejo, when he was still the secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, thought so too. “Goats can turn our country into a land of milk in two years,” he pointed out. “The goat that many of us belittle is actually a gold mine.”
MBRLC promotes Simple Agro-Livestock Technology (SALT 2) as a systematic way of raising goats in the uplands. It is a modification of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT), which the center is noted for. SALT 2 is classified under the agro-silvopastoral type of agroforestry in the sense that it integrates fuelwood production, agricultural crops, livestock, and forage.
The docile goats can provide the much-needed milk for the farm family, aside from the goat meat (chevon), which is a good source of protein. “With this, the malnutrition problem can be minimized if not solved,” Adang says.
Under this farming scheme, 40% the farm’s land is devoted to agricultural crops (like citrus, black pepper, beans, and corn), 40% to livestock (particularly goats), and 20% to forestry (mostly fruit trees and various nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs).
The forage garden is established 6-8 months before the goats are brought in. Only palatable, high in protein, fast-coppicing and high-yielding forage crops are recommended. A suggested composition of forage crops is 55% Desmodium rensonii, 20% Flemingia macrophylla, 20% Gliricidia sepium, and 5% Leucaena leucocephala.
“Our model farm is only one-half hectare,” says Adang. Instead of raising cattle, the common source of milk in the country that requires a land area of one hectare per animal, MBRLC recommends goats.
“Although a goat is small, she can produce as much as four liters of milk every day if she is purebred and is given a ration that could meet all of her nutritional requirements,” Adang says.
The goat shed is built in the middle of the farm; it is located between the crop area and the forage. Each animal is provided with two square meters. Milking is done every morning and in the late afternoon.
Adang says SALT 2 is designed for 12 does and one buck. The buck is separated from the does so that when it is time to milk the does, the milk won’t “catch” the “goaty smell” of the buck. During breeding, a doe is brought to the buck’s cottage. The manure is utilized as organic fertilizer, both for the forage and the crops.
During the time of Emmanuel F. Piñol as Agriculture Secretary, the Department of Agriculture collaborated with MBRLC to help address the challenge of the goat industry in augmenting supply of quality breeder goat stocks to meet the increasing demand in the local market.
The collaboration, called the Goat Breeder Multiplier Farm, brought high quality goat breeders from the United States with MBRLC serving as the farm that breeds the quality breeders.
“We want farmers to be involved in goat raising,” Piñol said, who raises goats himself in Kidapawan City. “The MBRLC also provides technical training of local farmers and technicians desiring to engage in goat production either dairy or breeder.”
Indeed, there’s now a bright future for dairy goat raising in the country!
