Fonterra increases local milk production
Fonterra today announced a 22 percent increase in local milk
collection in 2012, versus the previous year.
The increase saw Fonterra collect 8.2 million litres of locally
produced milk from a network of around 4,000 Sri Lankan dairy farmers
across five districts – a new collection record for the company.
Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka Managing Director, Leon Clement, said that
Fonterra has been collecting fresh milk in Sri Lanka for more than 15
years.
“We are firmly committed to the local dairy industry and have been
playing an important role in helping farmers increase their skills in
the areas of milk production, quality and sustainability for more than a
decade.
A Fonterra milk collation centre |
“We began our farmer-development programme in 1997 and today provide
around 4,000 farmers with training, advice and support to help them
produce top quality milk.
“As a result, farmers in our programme improved their production by
an average of 10 percent over this 12 month period. We also expanded our
farmer development programme to include around 200 more farmers in
2012.” Clement added that the milk collected by Fonterra is processed
into fresh dairy products, under the Anchor Newdale brand, at Fonterra’s
manufacturing site in Biyagama.
“The extra 1.5 million litres we collected last year was the
equivalent to 7.5 million glasses and it all went into developing high
quality fresh dairy products, under our Anchor Newdale range.
“Sri Lankans are increasingly looking for high quality fresh milk and
other fresh dairy formats that use local milk.
We are committed to investing further in the dairy sector to help
develop Sri Lankan dairying capabilities and skills to support this
growing demand.”
Clement concluded that milk is gold standard nutrition and an
important part of a balanced diet.
“Fonterra has been providing dairy nutrition to Sri Lankans for more
than 35 years.
We want to continue working alongside the government and the industry
to help ensure that Sri Lankans continue to have access to high quality
dairy nutrition, everyday,” he said. |