The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and the Jeonnam Korean Beef Cattle Cooperation Center (JKBCCC) have agreed to undertake a three-year scientific collaboration aimed at helping address the growing demands of the Philippine livestock industry.
Dr. Felomino V. Mamuad, PCC OIC executive director, and Dr. Sang–Suk Lee, JKBCCC head, formalized the agreement through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on Feb. 26 at the PCC national headquarters.
The MOU was also signed by Technology Application Center-Korea lead Dr. Dong-Keun Kam, and PCC nutrition unit head Dr. Daniel Aquino.
JKBCCC was established in 2007 under the Korean Development Association. Its objective is to continuously improve the Han-u beef cattle in Korea and to address the needs of its dairy farmers.
Dr. Lee is a professor at the Sunchon National University in Korea. Under his leadership, the JKBCC provides technical training and assistance on all aspects of beef and dairy cattle production, such as animal breeding, nutrition, health and traceability.
On the other hand, Dr. Kam specializes on the improvement of beef cattle nutrition and total mixed ration (TMR) production.
The PCC-JKBCCC collaboration highlights the importance of correct feeding management aimed at optimizing animal nutrition to boost their reproductive ability.
Under the three-year agreement, mutual assistance in the areas of research and technology development, knowledge-sharing, capacity-building and other relevant collaborative studies will be carried out by the two entities.
“This partnership will help us improve the nutrition of our dairy buffaloes. I believe that giving proper nutrition to the animals will help them produce more milk,” Dr. Mamuad said in his message during the MOU signing.
For his part, Dr. Aquino said the results of this collaboration will further help the farmers formulate proper food ration for their animals in their respective areas.
In his response, Dr. Lee said the partnership between JKBCC and PCC will be mutually beneficial to Korean and Filipino farmers.
Former PCC executive director Dr. Libertado C. Cruz, who witnessed the MOU signing ceremony, stressed the significance of the PCC and JKBCCC collaboration, citing the importance of sustainable feed resources.
“The MOU that we have signed is very important. Many of the animal performances that are noted in the field and in the farm are affected in big majority by nutrition. Our limitation in the country is the sustainability of feed supply. The TMR that we have in mind can only be very effective with sustainability of the available feed resources,” Dr. Cruz said.
He added that “the major part of the issue in nutrition is not about the one who is feeding; the reason why they are not performing well is because the one managing the animals are not putting the right management. I hope that we will improve the performance of the human resources, not only the technical but also those who are feeding the animals directly and those farmers who are tending the animals.”
