The Dairy Training and Research Institute (DTRI) has started a training program titled “Capacity Building for National Dairy Authority (NDA) Personnel” last June 18 at the DTRI auditorium.

The first module in the training program, “Refresher Course on Dairy Cattle Management: Animal Health and Reproduction”, was conducted last June 18-24, with 16 participants composed of project development officers and veterinarians throughout the country, including officers of DTRI and NDA.

To be implemented until March 2019, the training program will cover four parts. Part I involves refresher courses on dairy cattle management with two modules: Animal Health and Reproduction (7 days) and Animal Nutrition and Forage Production (7 days). Part II is an eight-day course on “Integrated Dairy Enterprise Management”. The third part is the Control Systems in a Dairy Enterprise with two modules: Dairy Farm and Plant Operations and Record Keeping (8 days) and Understanding Financial Statements (5 days). The last part is Effective Communication in Delivering Extension Services (7 days).

To recall, in 1996 and 2004, DTRI conducted a training program for the NDA for its field personnel and for the farmers and the cooperatives it supported. Within 20 years, the farmers, the dairy processing plant staff, the cooperatives and all others involved in dairy in these areas had undergone several training courses in the different aspects of dairy operation and cooperative management. Some of these courses were either conducted by the NDA, the DTRI and other training institutions.

Through the years, the NDA has increased its number of field personnel by hiring new ones or replacing others who left NDA due to transfer of work to other agencies or private sector, retirement or sickness. Aside from the smallhold dairy farmers and private dairy farm owners who are mostly members of dairy cooperatives, there are also dairy multiplier farms (DMF’s), private dairy farms, and dairy federations engaged in processing and marketing that NDA personnel have to assist.

With the developments in the local dairy industry, the NDA recognizes the need for a training program that will capacitate its work force. There is also a need to refresh the field personnel with technical aspects of dairy cattle management, specifically on animal health, reproduction, nutrition and forage production, and learning the operation of an integrated dairy enterprise. In addition, the NDA sees the need to capacitate its personnel on control systems in the dairy operation. To be effective in the delivery of services, the NDA personnel who have exposure with the different stakeholders should also be effective communicators, both verbally and in writing.

To address the aforementioned needs, the NDA commissioned the DTRI through the UPLB Foundation Inc. (UPLBFI) to formulate and implement a training program which will provide their personnel with the necessary knowledge and skills required for their jobs. In effect, when the NDA personnel become equipped with these skills, this will ensure that the necessary and efficient services will be provided to the dairy farmers and the different dairy stakeholders.

This training program is being implemented by DTRI through the Memorandum of Agreement signed between UPLBFI and NDA last June 6. (MS Galang, with photos courtesy of RRCS Yambao)

Source: Aggie Green and Gold (Official Quarterly Publication of the UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Science ), Vol XIX No. 3 | July to September 2018 ISSN: 1655924X