Dutch Mill works with govt to upgrade dairy standards
Dutch Mill Group and the Agriculture Ministry are collaborating to develop milk production from upstream to downstream and upgrade the quality of local milk to international standards in preparation for stiffer competition coming under the Asean Economic
“The key role of Dutch Mill Group is to ensure cooperatives that milk-collection centres will have at least four quality inspections a month, to send the company’s team to support farmer-care activities and to be involved in staff development of milk-collection centres,” vice president Pornchai Sawadsuksobchai said yesterday.
“Dutch Mill Group will also offer a higher buy-in price for raw milk supplied by cooperative/milk collection centres that achieve the pre-set objectives,” he said.
This project involves 3,587 contracted farms and 18 raw-milk storage centres nationwide. The objectives are to ensure world-class raw-milk quality and 15 kilograms of milk production per cow per day within three years.
In the past two years, Dutch Mill, a leading milk producer and distributor in Asean, has assisted dairy farmers via the “tripartite raw milk upgrade” project, aimed at upgrading the standards of local dairy farms, boosting daily milk production from 13kg per cow to 15kg and improving the quality of raw milk.
To improve the quality of milk, somatic cells will be limited to 500,000 cells per millilitre and bacteria to 500,000 colonies per millilitre. Dairy farms must pass good-manufacturing-process certification and meet at least 70 per cent of good-agricultural-practice (GAP) standards.
This should help local dairy farmers lower production costs, raise productivity and revenue and compete more effectively in the long run under the AEC, when competition should intensify, Pornchai added.
Dutch Mill Group claims a strong commitment to and proven track record in total development of dairy production. It voluntarily works with government to improve the country’s dairy production efficiency for the sustainable competitiveness of farmers and the industry in a free-trade environment, it says.
The collaboration is aimed at preparing dairy farmers to upgrade the standard of milk-collection centres so that they can compete against international peers. It conforms to the Agriculture Ministry’s “smart farmer” policy to equip farmers with true professionalism and self-dependability so that they can compete with neighbouring countries.
The Livestock Development Department will provide expert advice and training in forage management, prepare computerised training on dairy-herd management, send mobile units to provide support to farmers in coverage areas and provide expert advice and training to help their farms achieve GAP standard certification.
