Pran Dairy, Arla Foods join hands to boost milk production
Pran Dairy, a leading dairy company in Bangladesh, has partnered with Arla Foods, a European dairy cooperative, to improve milk yield and quality among farmers in Bangladesh.
Under the initiative, Arla Food and Pran Dairy will initially conduct a study on dairy farming, milk production and collection process in Rangpur, the northwest division.
Arla Foods and the Danish Agricultural and Food Council announced yesterday that they will be working together on a project to train farmers and milk collectors in Nigeria with the goal of collecting milk locally in the future. This project is similar to one that Arla conducted in Nigeria in collaboration with Care Denmark, the Danish Agricultural and Food Council, Seges, and the Nigerian pastoralist organisation Coret. The project was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
The increasing demand for milk and dairy products has led to a growth in dairy farming in the country. According to the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), milk production increased from 34.6 lakh tonnes in the 2011-12 fiscal year to 119 lakh tonnes in the 2020-21 fiscal year. Most of the milk produced is collected by the unorganized sector, particularly sweet makers. However, state-run cooperative Milk Vita and Pran collect nearly 10 lakh litres of milk daily, according to industry insiders.
Bangladesh imported a good amount of powdered milk and milk products, in addition to locally produced milk.
“There is a great opportunity to do well in the dairy sector of Bangladesh,” said Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman and chief executive of Pran-RFL group, after signing the Letter of Intent in this regard on behalf of Pran.
Peter Hallberg, managing director of Arla Foods Bangladesh, signed on behalf of Arla at the company’s headquarters in Dhaka.
Chowdhury said Pran is working with contractual dairy farmers in remote areas and giving various support and training for their skill development.”
It is important to give more emphasis on sustainable dairy production in order to increase milk productivity and quality, as well as the economic output of the local dairy value chain in Bangladesh. This will help the local dairy industry to thrive and contribute positively to the economy. Pran started milk collection in 2001 to meet the growing demand for milk and developed the dairy hub to collect milk from farmers directly to ensure fair prices for them and encourage dairy farming.
“Our international dairy company is owned by 9,400 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium and two other European countries,” said Hallberg. “As the fourth largest dairy cooperative in the world, with over 100 years of experience, we are uniquely positioned to deliver commercial success to the dairy farmers in Bangladesh while developing the sector sustainably,” he said.
Arla Foods Bangladesh Ltd. has been present in the country since 2014, when it established a packaging facility in Konabari, Gazipur. The company markets powdered milk under the Dano brand name.
