PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – The Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) holds a promising potential for goat raisers in Palawan when the Buliluyan-Kudat sea link opens.
Leonardo Enriquez of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Agricultural Production Coordinating Office (APCO) said Wednesday that there was a growing demand for goat meat (also known as chevon) in the neighboring countries of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Malaysia and the sea connection could help raisers in the province.
“It’s a big industry, and the private sector seems to be failing to notice this. But it’s a big industry,” Enriquez said.
He said the province alone could not cope with the increasing demand considering that the three countries had big consuming populations of goat meat.
Enrique added that Palawan was only into small-scale goat raising. But with the opening of the Buliluyan-Kudat route next month, this might soon change.
“There will be an increase in trading business with the opening of the sea link, and it can contribute by a very large extent to our livestock raisers,” he said.
The DA can support goat raisers by establishing a semi-processing plant for products that can be marketed to these neighboring countries.
He cited the province’s advantage of having vast tracts of land for livestock raising, particularly goats.
“Goat raising is easy; it’s not really hard to take care of them. On disease prevention, we have a lot of veterinarians who have the capacity to help the goat raisers,” he added.
Dairy production is another potential, Enriquez said, since goats produce quality fresh milk. Goat milk averages 30-35 percent fatty acids, which makes it more nutritionally wholesome.
He said their office could extend the necessary assistance for Palawan to become a competitive producer of livestock. (Gerardo Reyes, Jr./PNA)
