KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has welcomed the idea of large-scale cattle raising in the Philippines to boost milk production as he announced a $20-million investment from a Malaysian dairy company.
(Photo courtesy of PCO)
Marcos disclosed that the Farm Fresh Berhad is working with the Philippine government for its planned investment for cattle breeding intended for milk production and is looking for 200 to 400 hectares of land available for lease.
“In the Philippines, when you talk about the livestock, we talk about [hog] and chicken, we don’t talk about cattle. Maybe it’s time to introduce it to the market,” Marcos told Farm Fresh executives in a meeting with the company officials in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, July 27.
“We are here to see what we can do to make the project successful," the President added.
The company is currently looking for a viable area with a land requirement of 200 to 400 hectares contiguous farmland to lease to raise 2,000 milking cows.
Batangas and Laguna (specifically, the University of Philippines-Los Baños campus in Famy) are the target locations, according to its officials.
Farm Fresh is eyeing to commence its operations by 2028 with an estimated employment of 200 local workers. The company’s farm facility for milking cows is part of its new projects in the Philippines.
It also has an ongoing construction of 6,000 sqm. dairy processing facility in San Simon, Pampanga, also intended for fresh milk production.
The $5-million facility is slated to be operational this year, with an estimated employment of 50 local workers.
According to Marcos, Farm Fresh’s investment will set up processing facilities for imported milk ingredients from its Kyabram facility (Australia) and will focus on the chilled ready-to-drink market initially in Metro Manila.
A fully vertically integrated dairy producer operating across Malaysia and Australia, the company is currently in the process of registering with the Board of Investment (BOI).
Farm Fresh Milk Inc. is its Philippine subsidiary. It operates five dairy farms in Malaysia and one in Australia and also maintains two processing facilities in Malaysia, and one in Australia.
With 10,309 dairy cows and bulls, Farm Fresh has so far sold 78.6 million litres of finished products.