Vinamilk to develop dairy farms in Lam Dong

Dairy giant Vinamilk and Lam Dong province entered into an agreement to develop large dairy cow farms with herds numbering up to 10,000. VNS Photo Quynh Hoa

Under the agreement, signed between the company and the People's Committee of Lam Dong at Mega Viet Nam Dairy Factory in the southern Binh Duong province last week, Lam Dong will create favourable conditions for Vinamilk to build two to three modern farms to raise about 10,000 dairy cows.

The farms will also serve as centres to provide technical consultancy services relating to the raising of cattle, animal healthcare and animal feed for the local dairy households.

A high-quality breeding centre will also be built to provide dairy cattle that are pureblood Hosltein Friesian with high productivity to local farmers.

Vinamilk will also build a modern entrepot to collect and purchase milk products, ensuring to buy a minimum of 90 per cent of the milk products produced by local farmers at specialised dairy farming zones set up by the province.

When the amount of milk products reaches more than 200 tonnes per day, Vinamilk would consider building a milk processing factory in Lam Dong, Vinamilk's Managing Director Trinh Quoc Dung said.

Regular training courses will also be organised to provide local farmers knowledge about husbandry, animal healthcare and advanced technology.

In order to implement the agreement, the People's Committee of Lam Dong will set up and approve a master plan for developing dairy farms in the province during the 2015-20 period.

The province will also tighten management over the prevention and control of infectious diseases of animals to ensure safety of dairy farms.

Under the co-operation agreement, the number of dairy cows in Lam Dong is expected to increase to 40,000 to 50,000 by 2020, with an estimated 180,000 to 200,000 tonnes of milk products being produced per year.

Managing Director of Vinamilk Dung said the co-operation was aimed at tapping the province's advantageous climate and land conditions as well as its dairy cow development potential, to make Lam Dong one of the large, high-quality and sustainable milk product zones.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Yen told Dau Tu(Investment) online newspaper that the co-operation would help attract investment from Vinamilk to develop a system of dairy farms, ensuring supply chains of milk products for farmers and encouraging them to apply modern technology in dairy farming.

Vinamilk's purchase of fresh milk in Lam Dong has increased from 3,000 tonnes in 2008 to 16,000 tonnes last year.