Friesland Campina Vietnam officially held the groundbreaking ceremony to start the construction of a dairy zone in Moc Bac Commune, Duy Tien District, Ha Nam Province. The groundbreaking ceremony marks an important milestone and is considered to be a first encouraging step of the project for the development of sustainable dairy zones in Vietnam. This project is a partnership of FrieslandCampina, De Heus, Wageningen UR, The Friesian Agro Consultancy B.V, Fresh Studio, Ha Nam Government and the Dutch Government within the Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security (FDOV) for the period 2014 to 2018. The goal of this project is to establish and develop specialized dairy zones for family farms, contribute to food security, create jobs and reduce milk imports.

In the context of Friesland Campina’s Dairy Development Program, this project ties in seamlessly with objectives of FDOV. In this manner, FrieslandCampina commits to help resolve three major social problems: the progressive ageing of farmers and the need to create future prospect for young farmers, the need for the better quality and sufficient nutrition to feed the growing world population and the demand for affordable food and sustainable production chains.

It is expected that by 2018, 5 years after implementation, three dairy zones will be established. In particular, each zone will have about 50 dairy farms, producing at least 7 million kilograms of fresh milk per year and creating 345 jobs. After 5 years of participation in the project, each dairy farm will possess a herd of 50-80 heads and will use cultivated grass and corn fields to feed the dairy herd. In addition, the project aims to develop and implement training programs, set up a dairy cattle feed supply chain and seek financial services for farmers who participate in the project. As the main partner in the project, FrieslandCampina undertakes the roles of management, execution and direct investment. FrieslandCampina will establish three specialized dairy zones in Vietnam with 2 pilot dairy farms in each zone; support farmers access to preferential loans for sustainable farm and dairy zone development; train and supply technical advice to farmers; develop and establish procurement and control systems to ensure good milk quality as well as the consumption of fresh milk at competitive prices.

The dairy zone in Ha Nam is considered to be a model of public-private partnership in close collaboration with national and provincial government agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the People's Committee of Ha Nam Province, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Nam Province. It is believed that, the cooperation, commitment and assistance of the Dutch partners who are supporting the implementation of the project will create shared value with the community.

“The mission statement of FrieslandCampina Vietnam is ‘What we do matters. We believe in creating shared values with Vietnam.’ This Cowmunity reflects vividly our belief, our commitment. In the business plan submitted to the People’s Committee to apply for the license, there is no ambition of land acquisition nor profit generating. This unique business plan includes only sustainable measures for the local authority to get biggest value from land, for the farmers to access the land use right and necessary financing to build and run effective household dairy farms, and for Dutch partners to provide value-adding expertise. No surprise that the concept “Cowmunity” was complimented by the President of the State that it would contribute to the construction of a new countryside of Vietnam.” - Mr. Tran Quoc Huan - Deputy Managing Director of FrieslandCampina Vietnam – spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony.

About FrieslandCampina Vietnam:

FrieslandCampina has set up business in Vietnam for over 18 years, supplied more than 1.5 billion high quality milk units every year with many favorite brands such as Dutch Lady, Friso, Yomost, Fristi. The highlight of FrieslandCampina Vietnam’s exceptional CSR commitment is the Dairy Development Program which makes endless efforts to enable dairy farmers to run their businesses optimally and bring dairy production to a higher volume, quality and safety. The program has reinforced FrieslandCampina Vietnam’s position as a leading company in sustainable development of the dairy industry in the last 18 years. Professors Michael Porter and Mark Kramer of Harvard University, co-authors of the “Creating Shared Value” theory, have appraised Dairy Development Program of FrieslandCampina Vietnam as a typical model of creating shared value with the community, boosting economic development in rural areas, generating jobs, raising farmers’ income and improving the competitiveness of dairy farming. Despite the fact that Vietnam has no tradition in dairy farming, up to now over 4,000 Vietnamese households have been running their farms within the Dairy Development Program as the sweet fruit of 18-year and millions-of-USD investment of the company.

About De Heus:

De Heus was established in Vietnam in 2008 and 100% owned by De Heus Animal Nutrition BV of Dutch Royal De Heus Group. For the dairy farming development project, De Heus will contribute by investing in high quality feed production lines for cows. In addition to being a financial partner, De Heus will train farmers and local technicians in nutrition and feed concepts for dairy cows along with other partners.

About Wageningen University and Research Center

Wageningen UR is a knowlegde institution which develops among others knowledge for a sustainable and profitable livestock sector and converts this knowledge into practice oriented solutions and innovations and ensures that this knowledge is disseminated. For the project in Vietnam, Wageningen UR will provide technical advice and assistance in setting up to date technical training programs for farmers and advisors in the project area and setting up the monitoring and evaluation of the project.

About Fresh Studio:

Fresh Studio is a consulting, research and development company committed toward developing the agriculture sector of Vietnam. Fresh Studio currently has 4 offices, 125 staff and one R&D farm for corps in the Central Highlands. For this project, Fresh Studio is responsible for setting up the system to select farmers, providing consulting services and workshops for connecting partners, implementing applied technical advances to the project and training farmers to grow corn and grass according to GAP standards.

About The Friesian:

The Friesian provides consulting and technical services to dairy farmers in more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The Friesian has over 20 years experience in setting up dairy farms, managing dairy farms and in knowledge transfer in order to produce more milk, improve the quality of milk and in making the dairy chain more efficient. The company will collaborate with WUR to perform highly practical training programs as well as to support dairy farm management.

Source: Friesland Campina Vietnam