A trader claims he can let farmers earn as much as MBA graduates, their income boosted by water bufalloes or the more familiar term carabaos. Dairyman Danilo Fausto has held road shows in Singapore and Hongkong mostly among the domestic helpers to convince these overseas workers in their hometowns and help their respective families get back on their feet by buying carabaos and milking them to profit. Fausto, author of “Dare to Dream” A Filipino Entrepreneurs Tale of Success in Dairy Farming, left a comfortable sinecure in banking 25 years ago, when he saw that he could make a bigger difference in his countrymen's lives by engaging in dairy farming . Let us consider the statistics on dairy farming. The Philippines is producing only one percent of the actual demand in the country. That means less than 40,000 liters a day of the estimated ten million livestock, cows, carabaos and goats only 14,405 are milked. What Fausto is doing is changing the farmer's mindset from productivity of the soil to having a cash cow. He has organized new religion (so to say) Iglesia ni Kalabaw Church because of the great need for milk. Fausto said “we need four million dairy animals, what the government is bringing in is only 500 heads a year. Comparing milk supply “the real freshness of milk in tetra packs sold in supermarkets and groceries are questionable. “Our milk is gotten from the carabao in the morning and is on the table on the same day.
What is Fausto's concept of the business? The dairy farms buy one or two carabaos, the OFW investor lets a farmer take care of it and they have a 50-50 share of the profits. With three carabaos collectively yielding eight liters of milk (each liter sells for P45) a dairy farmer income is P32,400 in 30 days so Fausto who holds a master of business administration is not joking when he claims that a dairy farmer, who finishes Grade one makes as an MBA from Ateneo or La Salle. What are the other possibilities aside from fresh milk, premium cheeses yogurts, and ice cream and other products which are milk-based? Actually, to my mind there are two effective approaches to the project. Organize a cooperative in Bohol, for all dairy farmers interested in the project. Then seek initial funding from our congressmen, maybe an initial start of P3 million pesos. Establish a power point presentation on how to make money. The cooperative must have also marketers or sales people who will make a pitch for the milk products. I am sure there are buyers all over the country. Of course, there is a lot of refrigeration facilities which will be required. The Department of Agriculture can help by building ice plants for refrigeration or provide the carabaos to farmers on lenient terms like replacing the carabaos since these female carabaos will have also offspring, an ideal animal dispersing program.
This is a daunting challenge to our provincial and municipal leaders. Produce MBAS among our dairy farmers without necessarily going to school or do nothing about it. It needs ingenuity and determination to do it. The Department of Agriculture can lend their disease control resources to avoid disease in the livestock. We must also take care of the carabaos that they do not get sick. What about the new title Bohol –dairy farm capital of the Philippines but it is time our good governor can wear cowboy attire and make this province a cowboy country. There are many Boholanos who are jobless and needs money, then let them dirty their hands a little bit and presto they get a comfortable income of at least P20,000 a month satisfying a nationwide demand. Or the provincial government gets into business with an organized company and make also profits from the demand. Of course, it needs legal requirements to allow the provincial government to go to business. Who knows the provincial and municipal governments can also buy their milk for feeding to our children in schools, and save them from malnutrition. Where do you get the money for the seed money? There are grants everywhere waiting to be tapped. Approach the European Union ask for assistance from New Zealand to donate cows to the project.
There are financial institutions like Asian Development Bank or USAID. But what they need is a power point presentation to insure that the project is viable and will survive. It is not an impossible dream, my friends, it is an idea pregnant with possibilities. It is also immediate cash in the farmer's pockets. What the dairy farmers need are foliage and a swimming pool for the carabaos, something which they can hardly forego. Banks would only be too willing to lend, if we can prove that the project is profitable. The Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines can also help. As long as there are willing leaders able to provide the necessary resources, we need the bright boys of the Chatto administration and the leadership from the Bohol Mayors League to provide the impetus to this project. This is not one of these mendicancy projects. This will provide income to hundreds of our farmers in the hinterlands of Bohol. We have so much idle lands to plant for grass or foliage. Believe me this is a very viable project if our farmers take care of cattles, then after five years work experience they can be employed in New Zealand as dairy farm managers for about $30,000 a year.
Top Asian chain to invest in Bohol
It is very heartwarming to know that a top hotel chain in Asia, Jinjiang International Holdings Co. Ltd has decided to build two hotels in Bohol The largest Asian-owned hotel chain group will build two hotels in Bohol. Nothing is final yet, of course, but the plans are now final. Filipino businessman Carlos Chan, presidential special envoy to china besides being the adopted son of Bohol will be also the domestic partner of the hotel chain. They plan to build a specialty boutique hotel in Loboc which is home of the fancied Loboc river cruises. The company is also planning to build a second hotel, possibly a five-star a five-star one. The next thing that it can ask Chan is to build one of his factories in Bohol but the national government or the Department of Labor must allow the Chan group to pay lower minimum wage salaries to the workers to cover for transportation expenses in bringing their products to other parts of the country like Mindanao. Anyway, most of the retail chains in Bohol hardly pay the required minimum wage rates. That is an open secret even to the regulators. Chan, by the way is chairman of the Liwayway Group, makers of snack food brand Oishi, which apart from Mainland China has also manufacturing operations in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. The construction of these two Chinese hotels in Bohol will simply mean increased tourism opportunities for Bohol. It will signal a free bonus for Bohol that means a big hotel chain in China will promote tourism in that emerging country. It is well known that China is awash with cash, most of their money, though is invested in the USA in treasury bonds and stocks. This time, it will be real estate and hotel business in Bohol. It is also known that the Chan group before the building of a hotel, in Loboc has already bought some properties there.
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