MINDANAO HALAL FOOD CORPORATION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Halal food must be prepared in compliance with Islamic standards that are good for health and mind.Agence France-Presse (AFP) recently reported from Kuala Lumpur that the global trade in Halal food that complies with Islamic standards is now worth US$ 580 billion annually and could potentially hit one trillion US$. In line with strengthening the Halal food industry in Mindanao and its potential market benefits, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in coordination with the Department of Agriculture and different Islamic religious groups in Mindanao region, has created a body to oversee the certification and accreditation of Halal food especially those for export.
The Mindanao Halal Food Corporation will be established for the purpose of providing the leadership in the development of halal food industry in Mindanao. The corporation will initially operate in Sultan Kudarat, which will initially produce and processed goat meat and tilapia. These food products are popular among Muslims worldwide.
The goal of the project is to contribute significantly in developing the Halal food industry in the Philippines. In line with attaining this goal, the project will put up an integrated business structure and system with the following semi-autonomous components:
a)A goat research and breeding farm that will be responsible in reproducing good quality stocks for distribution to farmer cooperators. The farm will have a collection of improved breed of goat with experimental farm and laboratory facilities for artificial insemination, embryo transplant, disease prevention, and training of farmers,
b)A tilapia hatchery center that will provide the fingerlings and technical assistance component of the tilapia production scheme, and part of the center is a research and development and training facilities,
c)A feed processing plant that will formulate and eventually process the feeds for supplemental feeding in goat feedlot management and cage and pond culture of tilapia.
d)A production integrator that will be engaged in supervised production of goat with farmer cooperators. The production integrator will install an operational system that will conform to Halal food practices. This group will be responsible for distribution of animal stocks, scheduling of harvest for slaughter,training of farmers, and paying farmer cooperators the livestock harvest,
e)A meat processing center that is designed to the Halal food processing system that will produce processed meat, fresh meat, canned food, and dehydrated meat.
Goat and tilapia production will follow the nucleus satellite production model to ensure steady supply of the product for halal food processing. The feedlot production of goat will be carried out in cooperation with farmers. There will be a breeding farm that will supply the stocks to be grown by farmers that will grow goat in the feedlot. On the other hand for tilapia, there will be a centralized hatchery operation that will also deal with accredited hatchery operators to ensure the continuous supply of fingerlings. A feed processing plant will be also established for the feed requirement of both tilapia and goat. Similarly, a common service facility halal food processing and packaging plant will be established.
The Mindanao Halal Food Corporation will be management and holding corporation with its headquarters to be established in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its subsidiary operations in Mindanao will consist of semi-autonomous subsidiaries for research and breeding farm, feed processing, tilapia hatchery, and meat and fish processing plant. Each subsidiary will have its own ownership and operating system but part of a unified business network.
The project will entail a total project cost of about 19 million $US broken down as follows:
a)Goat Research and breeding farm, 1 million $US
b)Feed processing, 3 million $US
c)Revolving fund for credit assistance and livestock procurement, 5 million $US
d)Revolving fund for credit assistance for tilapia grow out production, 5 million $US
e)Processing and international marketing, 5 million $US
The project will be applied for project financing. The loan will be repaid back within a period of 10 years.
SULTAN KUDARAT HALAL GOAT PROJECT