10 May 2021

Championing Carabao’s Milk For Cagayan Children & Communities


I love carabao’s milk, cold & pasteurized. We have bottled milk available in my hometown Asingan in Eastern Pangasinan, produced by the farmers’ cooperative nurtured by Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani (God bless her soul). I don’t know about milk processing, but they probably have the same or similar equipment as shown above.

In a Facebook sharing by Noime Liangco I saw today, Saturday, 08 May 2021, Joel Cabading writes that “Cagayan Is Prepped To Become ‘Valley’ Of Milk In The North” (northern Philippines). Mr Cabading says, “Team KISAVIQ… successfully installed and operationalized the first-ever retort facility for the sterilization of carabao's milk in Cagayan Valley.” KISAVIQ is Kalinga, Isabela, Aurora, Vizcaya, Ifugao and Quirino provinces, designated by the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) as a dairy zone.

The PCC has provided the milk processing facility. Mr Cabading says:

(Such) facility is seen to boost milk production and marketing in the region while fulfilling its commitment (to) the School-Based Feeding Program (SBPF) of the Department of Education (DepEd) under…RA 11037 or the "Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act." (“Nutritious Food for Filipino Children Act” – my translation).

Team KISAVIQ is headed by Noime C Liangco, owner of the Amancio Nicolas Tourist Farm & Hotel as well as Agri-Tourism Academy in Cordon, Isabela. My wife Ampy, daughter Gracielaand I visited the farm & hotel compliments of Miss Noime in mid-2018, and we saw how customer-minded she was. (You can read my latest essay on her, “Organic Foods & Forest To Grow For Amancio Tourist Farm In Cordon, Isabela[1],” dated 04 May 2021, in this same blog.)

Mr Cabading tells us the retort facility was delivered last April and installation completed 15 April, the trial run carried out soon after. It is estimated that the facility can produce at least 12,000 packs of sterilized milk given 2 shifts a day.

The PCC-assisted dairy cooperatives in KISAVIQ “pledged to consolidate their… milk production with the aim of contributing to the sustainability and realization of the goals and objectives of the dairy zone.”

Team KISAVIQ conducted its first meeting and strategic planning on 11 December 2020 at the Amancio Nicolas Farm Hotel in Cordon, Isabela through the initiative of the PCC at Cagayan State University headed by Rovina Piñera and Caro B Salces.

Mr Cabading says:

The strategic planning (was) a move to set a direction on how dairy development will prosper in the (zone). With the ongoing intervention, PCC is certain that carabao’s milk (will) reach far, benefitting more undernourished children.

Some 4 months before, on 07 August 2020, Revin Mikhael D Ochave reported: “PCC, DepEd Team Up For Nationwide School-Based Milk Feeding Program” (BusinessWorld). PCC and DepEd had signed a Memorandum of Agreement to implement the national milk feeding program of DepEd; that is to say, the KISAVIQ dairy zone is only a part.

Is carabao’s milk a good choice for children? Jansen Ramos quotes nutritionist-dietitian Malou Caudal as saying, “Carabao's milk contains protein, fat, lactose, vitamins, minerals, and water, making it the most complete food" (GMANetwork.com). I say, “Unbeatable!:@517



[1]https://towardscoopagriculture.blogspot.com/2021/05/organic-foods-forest-to-grow-for.html

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