Metro Pacific Agro Ventures (MPAV), a unit of conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, is considering the chicken egg and carabao milk businesses while continuing to ramp up its dairy and vegetable capacities.

In an interview, MPAV President Juan Victor Hernandez said their core strategy is to look at the Filipino plate, and they have now added fresh dairy and greens, “but we want to enter the protein segment.”

“Protein could either be meat, eggs, or aquaculture. All of those are very interesting. (But) to be frank, with meat, we’re kind of cautious because of the ASF (African Swine Fever) in terms of pork. For chicken, there's the Avian flu. But for eggs, that's a very interesting area. So we're looking at that,” he noted.

Hernandez said they also want to look into carabaos because it is being raised all over the Philippines.

“It is the quintessential symbol of agriculture but we only use it for tilling the land. In other countries, they actually milk the carabao, so if I can get, for example, two liters of milk from every farmer, that's extra income for the farmer that I can process the cheese from,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Hernandez said MPAV expects to be self-sufficient in terms of milk supply by 2026 with its acquisition of Universal Harvester Dairy Farms Inc. or Bukidnon Milk Company.

MPAV is also beefing up the capacity of the dairy of Carmen’s Best (Laguna Creamery) as well as preparing for the commercial operation of the country’s largest integrated dairy facility in Bay, Laguna through a joint venture with the LR Group of Israel.

Since Universal Harvester is the largest dairy facility in Mindanao, Hernandez said “They are very complimentary to our existing dairy business in Laguna. They don't have an ice cream business. We do. So, that automatically gives us the opportunity to produce ice cream in Mindanao and distribute in Visayas and Mindanao, which is more efficient from a cost perspective.”

Meanwhile, he said “We've reached 140 milking cows in Laguna. Before, it was, on average, about 95 or 97, We never broke the 100 mark. But, because of the investments that we've done in Laguna Creamery, by the end of July, we already have 140 and growing. 

“In fact, our target for December is we will already achieve 200 milking cows in Laguna, which effectively we will be able to double production of ice cream by then. 

“Now, with the acquisition of Bukidnon milk company in Maramag, they have a 1,000 herd, 200 of which is milking. So that will immediately add to the pool of milk supply that is required by the company to further grow.  They have about close to 300 heifers, young cows that can enter the milking pool.”

All these, combined with the Israeli joint venture, which will open by the first quarter of 2025, Hernandez said “we will be able to achieve already what we call our dairy self sufficiency by 2026. I think that's very critical for the dairy business to move forward.”

Once their milk supply is sufficient, MPAV intends to work on expanding its dairy line for the production of fresh milk which, Hernandez said “will now start the growth path for the dairy line… we want that to be as big as the ice cream business.”

For its greenhouse business in Bulacan, construction is still ongoing and the first 3.5 hectares, the largest green house in the country, will start commercial operation in January 2025 and will be producing 800 metric tons of vegetables annually. 

“And we've been given instructions already next year that the three and a half, we will double to seven, which is the original plan, seven hectares to produce 1600 metric tons of vegetables,” he added.