Representatives from the National Dairy Authority (NDA) sat with the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) on May 3, 2023, to update the latter’s findings and recommendations from the field validation of the Intensified Community-based Dairy Enterprise Development (ICBDED) Program – Cattle Component conducted last March.

As part of the oversight functions of PCAF on US PL 480-funded projects, the Planning, Monitoring and Knowledge Management-Project Development Section (PMKMD-PDS) joined the NDA in 12 provinces to ensure the attainment of the project’s objectives and deliverables, providing findings and recommendations to the agency.

The field validation of the prospective recipients of the project was conducted on March 1 to 24, 2023 in various areas of North Luzon, South Luzon and Northern Mindanao. Monitoring of dairy goat recipients in Masbate was also conducted.

The PMKMD-PDS handles the monitoring and evaluation of ICDBED implemented by the NDA and the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC).

The field validation aims to substantiate the reports submitted by the implementing agency,  strengthen the linkage among the project’s implementer and project recipients, and assure that project recipients can comply with and satisfy the minimum requirements set by the project implementer.

PCAF has already submitted the consolidated report to NDA in April. With the submitted report, NDA’s National Project Coordinator Rowena Bautista and Project Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Quiella Olid provided feedback on PCAF’s technical evaluation team’s findings and recommendations.

One of the findings was that the prospective beneficiaries need to have modification, renovation or construction of the cattle sheds to comply with NDA’s standards. 

PCAF also included in the report the lack of a prepared business plan and milking plan for dairy cattle production and identified market for possible recipients of milk and dairy products. Along with the findings, the PMKMD recommended that the NDA should validate the cattle shed’s compliance before the actual distribution and provide training.

Bautista likewise gave updates on the cattle dispersal. According to her, NDA  still awaits the approval to distribute the cattle with release clearance from the quarantine facilities and hopes to release it in Luzon within the week.

On the concern of additional hauling cost to be incurred by the recipients, PMKMD suggested the NDA to use  PCC’s procured trucks under the ICBDED funds for cattle distribution to the approved beneficiaries. Additional hauling will be incurred as the quarantine facility is in Masbate while some of the beneficiaries are in North Luzon.

For the marketing aspect, NDA will provide  assistance to the recipients to connect them to schools that are implementing school-based milk-feeding programs. 

The team also presented the tentative schedule of the next validation and monitoring for the second quarter. | JC