THE National Dairy Authority (NDA) on Thursday said it held meetings with mayors from Romblon province to explore the expansion of the agency’s development programs.
The NDA, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, is tasked to increase milk self-sufficiency, support local dairy farmers and promote investment to reduce reliance on imports.
NDA Administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya, with Romblon Lone District Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona and former San Agustin mayor Dedon Madrona, met with mayors of 14 of 17 municipalities in the province.
The NDA is taking a proactive approach by directly engaging with regional chief executives to encourage more investments in dairy development. “Instead of waiting for LGUs (local government units) to express interest in our programs, we go to them and present the opportunities,” Andaya said.
The dairy development program seeks to establish a sustainable source of locally produced milk and improve access to fresh milk in the province to support the government’s feeding initiatives.
Developing the local dairy industry will help secure a sustainable milk supply, create livelihood opportunities for farmers, and improve the nutrition of women and children in the province, Andaya said.
“We want to use idle lands in Romblon for dairy production and dairy development. We are also interested in corn silage production to create more opportunities for our farmers and ensure year-round feed supply for dairy cattle,” Dedon Madrona said.
On Tuesday, Madrona led a delegation to visit NDA-assisted dairy farm Orchard Valley to benchmark its facilities and consider replicating the same model in Romblon.
“If there are opportunities to uplift our children, let’s go for it,” Jesus Madrona said.
The mayors signified interest in working with the NDA to test dairy projects in their municipalities.
The proposed expansion of dairy programs in Romblon will strengthen the local dairy value chain from production to collection and distribution, while supporting the government’s food security and nutrition agenda, the NDA said.
It will collaborate with LGUs to identify suitable sites, distribute planting starter kits, offer technical support and rollout capacity-building initiatives for prospective dairy farmers.
The NDA’s push for growth is driven by an increasing demand for locally produced milk, especially from the Department of Education’s 2026 milk feeding program, which increased its beneficiaries to 4.6 million students.
“Local chief executives also want milk for their own feeding programs,” added Andaya.
In 2025, local milk production hit a record 43.4 million liters, bringing the national milk sufficiency rate to 2.22 percent from the previous 1 percent in the previous three decades.
