HOW THE PHILIPPINES CAN STOP IMPORTING BEEF
HOW THE PHILIPPINES CAN STOP IMPORTING BEEF
We often describe the Philippines as an agricultural country, and rightly so. We have land. We have manpower. We even have a growing number of jobless Filipinos who are willing to work. Most importantly, we have demand. Yet here we are—importing beef and milk that we could, and should, be producing ourselves.
Every kilo of imported beef is a lost sale for our local farmers. Every liter of imported milk is income taken away from rural families. The more we import, the more we deny ourselves livelihoods. This is not about blaming anyone; it is about understanding why a system that should work keeps failing. And we must remember this simple truth: food security is national security.
Engr. Jowie Sindol Lopez, author of Beefing Up the Philippines, puts it bluntly: Filipino cattle farming is still run on tantsa-tantsa—guesswork. “You cannot build a profitable cattle industry on hula,” he writes. Lopez, a farmer’s son from Mindanao who later managed feed mills for large Australian feedlots, argues that what we lack is not resources but systems. His book reads less like a textbook and more like an operations manual—engineered for Filipino conditions, Filipino by-products, and Filipino farmers.
Consider this: as of late 2025, the Philippines consumes more than 400,000 metric tons of beef annually, but local production supplies only about 38 percent of that demand. The gap is filled by imports because imports are easier, faster, and—due to logistics—often cheaper. Lopez points out the absurdity: it can be cheaper to ship frozen beef from Australia than to transport a live cow from Bukidnon to Manila.
We import beef, yet ignore the people who could produce it.
Take our indigenous communities. Groups like the Mamanwa hold vast ancestral domains in Mindanao—lands ecologically suited for cattle raising. But without full ancestral domain titles, they cannot access credit. Without roads, cold storage, and markets, they cannot compete. Why not help them become producers of beef and milk instead of treating them as perpetual beneficiaries of aid? Lopez repeatedly emphasizes that “ancestral land plus engineering equals productivity,” if only government support shifts from short-term dole-outs to long-term enterprise building.
His book also challenges the myth that cattle raising requires imported feeds. Lopez shows how local “waste” materials—rice bran, copra meal, rice straw—can be turned into high-performance rations using simple formulas. “Black gold is already in your backyard,” he writes. This matters because feed costs can make or break profitability.
So why are we still importing?
Because it is easier to open ports than to fix farm-to-market roads. Easier to lower tariffs than to invest in slaughterhouses and cold chains. Easier to announce production targets than to ask if those targets are actually being met.
If we were more determined, we could even plan not just to produce enough, but to export. Other tropical countries have done it. Why can’t we?
We should also rethink land use. Millions of hectares of coconut land sit idle under the trees. Cattle grazing under coconuts—what experts call silvopasture—could instantly expand our herd without clearing forests. Farmers earn twice: copra above, beef below. The cows fertilize the soil; the trees protect the animals from heat stress. It makes sense.
Stopping beef imports will not happen overnight. It takes years to raise cattle. But every year we delay, we lose more farmers, more skills, and more food security.
As Engr. Jowie Sindol Lopez reminds us, the future of Philippine agriculture is not about working harder—it is about working smarter. If we truly believe we are an agricultural country, then it is time to act like one.
RAMON IKE V. SENERES
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