Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos

Basic Premises: Dairy Cow Investment for Overseas Filipinos

The purchase of dairy cows is an investment option for overseas Filipino workers who may wish to earn  potentially exponential profits through livestock offsprings and milk production. It involves an investment by an overseas Filipino in a local dairy (milking) cow, that is dispersed to and taken care by individual farmers in the rural areas, with Ercof monitoring  the transaction, dispersal and care of the cows, in cooperation with a local dairy processor and cooperative.

Both the overseas Filipino and dairy farmer share in the off-springs and milk proceeds which are bought by a dairy processing plant which in turn sells them milk  to Manila coffee shops. The whole system of  investment, cow stewardship, and market chain is already set up. All this happens even while the overseas worker is absent from the Philippines.

Ercof works with the Talavera Dairy Cooperative, Inc. and DVF Farms (based in the municipality of Talavera in Nueva Ecija) for this alternative investment vehicle that is  currently being piloted. The complementing advocacy for pushing the local dairy industry towards competitiveness, spurring growth in the countryside, providing additional means of livelihood to farmers, encouraging cooperativism, as well as making tangible and profitable investment for OFWs are but some of its many motivations and appeals.

Similar to the  initiative to link remittances and microfinance, the dairy program was chosen for its multi-bottomline results: a) It could give overseas Filipinos good ROIs under a relatively secure investment environment; b) The investment also gives an additional source of livelihood to marginal farmers; c) It contributes to local economy development and promotes the local dairy industry; and d) The investor gets the psychic satisfaction of having been able to help his country.

This section contains more detailed information on the business projections of dairy cow investment, the relationships between the OFW investor, the farmer, Ercof and the dairy processing plant, including assumptions and risks involved, as well as the mechanisms that could mitigate risks, such as cow insurance which has been arranged, if the investor so desires.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of diary cow investment scheme