A P2-BILLION dairy farm and processing project that is expected to address a domestic production gap has been approved by the Board of Investments (BoI).

Metro Pacific Dairy Farms Inc.'s (MPDF) facility in Laguna, scheduled to start operations in March next year, will house 1,000 cows and produce 6.5 million liters of raw milk per year, the BoI said.

"This initiative is a crucial stride towards enhancing our food security and reducing our dependency on imported milk," BoI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said.

"Achieving greater self-sufficiency in our dairy supply likewise ensures that Filipino consumers have access to fresh, high-quality local products," he added.

"We at the BoI are excited about the introduction of advanced dairy farming technology, which promises to deliver superior quality and production efficiency while significantly boosting local dairy and plant-based beverage production."

The country's current production capacity for plant-based milk was said to be at 24.4 million liters per year and the MPDF's initiative is expected to boost this to 27.4 million liters.

The BoI said this would be enough to satisfy 95 percent of projected demand, which is expected to reach 28.8 million liters by 2025.