Carabao : the potential milk source

Did you know that foreign dairy farmers earns millions of dollars each year to produce milk for the Filipinos? During the period 2002-2007, the Philippines spent an average of over US$460 million to cover the cost for an average volume of over 1,800 thousand metric tons or 1.8 billion liters of milk imports annually. Powdered milk accounts for some 86% of the imports. (source FAQ Dairy & Carabao Development Program, Phil. Carabao Center)
90% of the Philippine milk supply comes from importations that cost the country a sizeable amount of foreign exchange. Developing the carabao as potential source of milk and meat is one of the major tasks being carried out by the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) thru its Carabao Development Program (CDP).


CDP is a continous and organized effort to increase the genetic potential of the native carabao for milk, meat and draft that would result in the development of buffalo-based and related enterprises aimed at increasing income and nutritional status of the Filipino farming communities.


PCC's mandate is to promote the development of the of the carabao as a source of milk, meat, draft and hide as direct and indirect means of improving the general well-being of millions of rural farming families in the Philippines. This involves the development and production of genetically superior germplasm for enhanced and sustained genetic improvement, conduct of training for technicians and farmers, assistance for the development of carabao-based enterprises and the development of technologies.