Metro Pacific Agro Ventures Inc., a unit of conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp., is ramping up its vegetable and dairy operations by going into the chicken egg and carabao milk business.
At the same time, it consciously steered clear of the meat section of the business of selling protein, particularly at this time when agriculture entrepreneurs have to deal with the African swine fever (ASF) on one hand and avian flu on the other.
“We wanted to go into the protein market, which could be meat, eggs, or aquaculture, all of which are very interesting. But to be frank, we’re kind of conscious with meat because of the ASF in terms of pork. On chicken, there’s avian flu. As for the eggs, that’s a very interesting area and we are looking at that,” Juan Victor Hernandez, MPAV president, said.
According to Hernandez, the enterprise took a long look at the Filipino plate and wants to add fresh dairy and greens to it. He also said the carabao was added because the animal 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 noted.
Hernandez said MPAV expects to be self-sufficient in terms of milk supply by 2026 with the acquisition of Universal Harvester Dairy Farms Inc. or the Bukidnon Milk Co.
MPAV is also beefing up the dairy capacity of Carmen’s Best (Laguna Creamery) and preparing for the commercial operation of the country’s largest integrated dairy facility in Bay, Laguna and its joint venture with the LR Group of Israel.
He notes the Universal Harvester, the largest dairy facility in Mindanao, compliments its dairy business in Laguna.
“They don’t have an ice cream business but we do. So, that automatically gives us the opportunity to produce ice cream in Mindanao and distribute it on the island and in the Visayas, which is more efficient from a cost perspective,” he said.
He said the Laguna Creamery, which never broke the 100-head mark, already has 140 heads in July and continues to grow in number. The business targets to have 200 milking cows by December which will effectively double the production of ice cream by then.
With the acquisition of the Bukidnon milk company in Maramag, gives the business a herd of 1,000 of which 200 are milking that immediately adds to the pool of milk supply required for the company to grow further.
“They have about close to 300 heifers, young cows that can enter the milking pool,” Hernandez said.
All these, combined with the Israeli joint venture set to open early next year will enable the business to achieve dairy self-sufficiency by 2026.
Once milk supply is sufficient, MPAV plans to expand the dairy line for the production of fresh milk.
As for its greenhouse business in Bulacan, construction is ongoing and the first 3.5 hectares, the largest greenhouse in the country, will start commercial operations in January 2025 and produce 800 metric tons of vegetables annually.
By 2026, the number of hectares planted to vegetables doubles to seven and capable of delivering 1600 metric tons, Hernandez said.
