Nestle to contribute Rs 1.7 b to Sri Lanka's dairy industry

Minister for Livestock Development, Arumugam Thondaman, visited the Nestle factory at Pannala last week, where he commended Nestle's role in their drive to help grow the dairy sector in Sri Lanka.

Nestle Lanka is involved in the collection of fresh milk and has been developing the dairy sector from the early 1980's.

Nestle Lanka (PLC) is the single largest private sector collector of fresh milk in the country.

The year-to-date growth of milk collection is encouraging, with an impressive double digit growth on top of a close to 10 per cent growth last year. Nestle Lanka procures an average of 115,000 litres of milk from 13,000 local dairy farmers every day.

In 2009, Nestle Lanka pioneered the resuming of milk collection on a large scale in the North-Eastern districts, upholding its commitment to support the Government's initiative to develop these areas through the 'Nagenahira Navodaya' and 'Uthuru Wasanthaya' programs.

The Minister noted that Nestle Lanka will have completed the construction of an additional 22 chilling centres by end September this year.

These chilling centers are serviced by close to 1000 milk collection points, islandwide.

Minister Thondaman showed keen interest in Nestle's dairy infrastructure development, which has created significant employment and economic opportunities for rural farmers.

He visited two such dairy farms and a chilling centre in the Kuliyapitiya area during his tour, and also was chief guest at a meeting of farmers.

As part of Nestle Lanka's initiative to assist farmers develop their dairy business, many farmers received hampers containing cattle feed and also pamphlets containing information on animal health, milking and proper milk handling.

The Minister also distributed milk churns to dairy farmers at the meeting. Nestle Lanka promotes best practices for high quality milk procurement, with aid encompassing livestock health, breeding, milking, hygiene, sterile handling and storage, developing pasture and feed with farmer incentives for artificial insemination.

Testing equipment has been installed at all Nestle's chilling centres to ensure and control the collection of the highest quality milk, to which end the Company works closely with relevant authorities - the government veterinary department, and public health officers, in training and educating farmers.