Promoting shared community value

Tran Quoc Huan Deputy general director of  FrieslandCampina Vietnam 2

The programme (DDP) enables dairy farmers to produce higher quality outputs at larger volumes. The methods applied include knowledge-sharing through training and exchange programmes and the establishment of local milk distribution systems which suit the local market.

FCV’s DDP was hailed by professors Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, the fathers of the Creating Shared Value theory, as a pioneer in the field in Vietnam.

When FCV first embarked on their dairy development programme in 1996 to support individual dairy farmers, no one dared to believe they would succeed. The company’s deputy general director Tran Quoc Huan said creating value was always a challenging task, particularly for low-income farmers; and creating shared value meant businesses would work alongside the farmers every step of the way.

Huan said the first challenge for a company trading with low-income people was to win their trust into the company’s mission and strategy and a commitment of the company’s management towards these long-term values.

Recalling the first days when FCV deployed the shared value initiative among Vietnamese dairy farmers, Huan said: “We divided over 4,000 individual dairy farmers into specific groups based on geographical conditions, and invested in building a cooling  system for each group. The company staff at each station took charge of checking the quality of milk produced by dairy farmers before weighing it. Check parameters then inputted into the system and were immediately processed before a text message was given to farmers telling them how much they had earned based on their yield every time.”

FrieslandCampina Vietnam has won a bevy of awards for its innovative community empowerment work

The process helped pay farmers based on their product quality, from there encouraging farmers to take care and apply Good Dairy Farming Practice and HACCP standards on food quality control to improve milk quality, Huan noted.

FCV’s scientific method and fair treatment towards farmers has helped the company win the trust of local dairy farmers as well as the confidence of local governments.

Huan said sustainability was the core in FCV every business.

“As a dairy company, we take care to develop material areas, establish partnerships with farmers who considering raising dairy cows, provide them with access to technical knowledge, capital sources and a market. This helps optimize the value farmers bring to the value chain, helping farmers increase their incomes while constantly improving their milk quality, which boosts production for both farmers and FCV processing plants. We believe this is a sustainable development solution suitable to the Vietnamese countryside,” Huan underscored.

In middle of this year, FrieslandCampina Vietnam was honoured with an Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Award in the social empowerment category for its extensive community empowerment policies and activities.

This is the first ever company from Vietnam to have won this award.

Wide-ranging outstanding FrieslandCampina Vietnam programmes which have empowered economically disadvantaged communities include the Dairy Development Programme, Den Dom Dom Education Fund, and a range of activities in nutrition research and education.