DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 2 Oct) – A three-hectare halal beef production facility worth P150 million will soon rise in Kidapawan City in the province of Cotabato, a development that is seen to boost food sufficiency in Mindanao.
At Wednesdays Media Forum at the Habi at Kape, Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol, former Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and adviser of the City of Kidapawan, said that the local government is investing money for the construction of the facility and procurement of 1,500 breeding and fattening cows from Australia.
Piñol, a former agricultural secretary, added that the project, which is eyed to commence in the first quarter of 2025, involves an “integrated farming approach” from feed production to cattle raising and meat production.
He added that agricultural activities should not operate in isolation but farmers need to work together to achieve food self-sufficiency.
Under this project, Piñol said that the local government will tap farmers for the supplies of corn, sorghum, soy beans, copra meal, palm oil kernel, and even rice bran that will be processed into cattle feeds.
“Nakita nako na dili pwede mag standalone ang agricultural activities. Dili pwede si farmer mais lang iyang i-produce, pagkahuman mangita sya asa ibaligya (I see that agricultural activities cannot be standalone. A corn farmer cannot produce corn and still look for buyers afterwards). The corn farmer will plant corn because there is a feed mill that waits for his product and the feed mill should feed the animals,” he said.
Piñol said the halal beef production project would provide jobs, livelihood, and income for the farmers.
He said that the Department of Agriculture would fund the construction of a halal-certified abattoir under the agency’s National Livestock Program.
Piñol added that the City of Kidapawan is poised to produce its own cows in five years, which will boost the cattle population of the country, which is currently estimated at 2.7 million heads.
He said that this would address the demand for the growing domestic market for halal beef.
“The idea is very simple. Each local government unit should make sure that it could feed its own people first. Ibig sabihin hindi lang natin iaasa sa national government ang ating food security program (This means that we should not solely rely on the national government for our food security program). Food security programs should start in localities,” he said.
Piñol added that the biggest failure in the country’s cattle industry is that the government would only distribute breeders to farmers without ensuring an adequate supply of food, forcing them to sell their cows or slaughter them for meat.
“With this program, we have food supply, we have breeding materials, and we have a market, so it is integrated,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
