Being the country’s leading producer of cattle, Bukidnon province has been identified as the pilot site to launch the Philippine-USA Partnership on Ruminant Livestock Genetic Improvement Program (PUP-RLGIP).

Based on 2024 PSA data, the province recorded a total of 56,085 head of cattle. However, since the year 2022, the local cattle population has been on a downward trend.

As a maiden step, a composite team of the PUP-RLGIP visited commercial, backyard and government-owned cattle farms in Bukidnon from June 21 to 23.

Led by DA Assistant Secretary for Ruminant Livestock Benjamin Albarece, DVM, along with U.S. delegates: Dr. Joe W. Mask, assistant professor at Stephen F. Austin State University, Renee T. Strickland, owner and operator of Strickland Ranch and Exporter, Inc., and Archito Tamayo, a US-based retired Filipino-American biochemist, the visit mainly aimed to benchmark the priority agenda of the program.

The PUP-RLGIP is a government-led cattle breeding program that seeks to improve the characteristics and population of native cattle by establishing linkages with experts on international cattle breeding and trading programs.

The program primarily focused on the employment of latest reproduction technologies using genetic materials from superior beef cattle.

To mirror the U.S. cattle breeding mechanism, the PUP-RLGIP will initially operate involving universities offering agriculture degree programs as partners for technology transfer, and research and extension.

The pilot implementation is proposed to include exchange scholarship programs between faculty and students of Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan and Central Mindanao University with that of Stephen F. Austin State University of Nacogdoches, in Texas, USA.

According to Albarece, this partnership is a major stride to address the country’s beef supply situation with about 60% of beef requirements being imported, and only about 40% being locally produced, indicating food insecurity.

The DA-Regional Field Office 10, through its Livestock Program, and Bukidnon Provincial Veterinary Office are at the forefront of the PUP-RLGIP rollout as the implementing instrumentalities of the national and local governments.# (ATT)