Fonterra Sri Lanka is focused on growing the local business, driven by consumer demand, including a commitment to a local sustainable dairy development initiative applied across the entire value chain. The goal of this dairy development initiative is to improve the livelihoods of small farmers and farming communities through providing a channel to market via local milk processing whilst supporting local small holder farmers to increase milk production, milk quality and profitability.

The objectives of the extension training is to: improve overall farm productivity, improve the quality and safety of the milk they produce, improve the care of their animals, improve the care of the environment, increase their dairy farm income and profitability, develop industry wide understanding of profitable dairy models for the nation. Additionally, a training and demonstration farm will support the extension and training program, providing farmers and industry experts with classroom and on-farm training facilities. The farm provides a base for very practical transfer of farming systems knowledge and expertise accelerating the development of farmer capability and the rate of practice change by our farmers. Milk collection centres will be established in the regions and staff trained to collect and rapidly cool the milk before it is transferred to food production facilities. Core metrics representing productivity, animal health and farmer income are being established so that improvements over time can be tracked.

The primary focus of this initiative is developing the capability of the dairy farmers in Sri Lanka, however successful implementation also requires the establishment of access to infrastructure, to collect and process the milk, and demand for the fresh products to generate sustainable income for the farmers. The core part of the initiative is the extension training and direct on-farm support of sustainable farming practices. The extension training includes animal husbandry, hygiene and quality, feed management, health and safety and caring for the environment. These services are provided by on-the-ground supplier relationship officers who are located in the regions where the farms are.

This initiative is governed under the Fonterra global dairy development executive governance group and the monthly Sri Lankan Dairy Development programme steering group. To guide us on implementation we work closely with key external stakeholders including the Sri Lankan Government and other New Zealand industry experts. The programme delivery is led by a Fonterra dairy development expert who reports to the GM Community Programmes and is managed locally through the Sri Lankan business management team. The Staff employed to deliver the initiative have defined roles and responsibilities (e.g. Supplier Relationship Officers) and are managed locally by the Head of Extension Training & Partnerships in Sri Lanka (Fonterra dairy development expert)

Sri Lankan Government, Other New Zealand industry experts