Fonterra farmer education program pays off

A farmer milking a cow. Pic: Vipula Amerasinghe
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The farmer education and training program launched by Fonterra Brands
Lanka has improved the quality and quantity of the milk produced on
farms to create a more sustainable dairy farms in Sri Lanka, company
sources said.
Ten 'dairy farmer families' supplying the Fonterra Hanwella Milk
Chilling Centre, have joined the program.
Fonterra's international dairy industry expertise is shared on a
daily basis educating farmer families' with skills in calf management,
fodder management, setting up fodder gardens, paddock construction, shed
designing and access to water, usage of effluent for irrigation, animal
welfare, feeding and fodder cultivation.
The program involves teaching and training the entire family on
modern dairy practices.
The program aims at instilling among farmer families best practice
behaviour, encouraging them to focus on milk quality, health and safety
and sustainable management practices including environmental and animal
welfare.
"Due to the 'Systems Approach' to dairy management, the dairy farmers
under the program are becoming aware, that if they change one aspect of
their farming system, it will impact and change another part of the
system," a company spokesman said. |