press releases
U.S. Diary Giant Visits Zambia
MazabukaJune 27, 2006
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Board members of the largest dairy conglomerate in the United States, Land O’Lakes, on Tuesday, June 27 visited the Magoye Milk Collection Center in Mazabuka with the U.S. Ambassador to see the progress that is being made to improve the welfare of dairy farmers, particularly the smallholder producers. The six board members, are on a tour of eastern and southern African countries, to familiarize themselves with agricultural and rural developments and improve dairy production for the benefit of all Zambians.
Land O’Lakes Chairman, Mr. Pete Kappelman is a partner in a family-owned commercial dairy farm in Wisconsin USA and is leading the delegation. The other four board members are commercial farmers and one is a managing director of a farmer-owned business cooperative within the Land O’Lakes USA network.
The Ambassador noted that Magoye Milk Collection Center, established in 1998, is now one of the most successful small owned co-operatives in the country. The Center has grown from 15 to 400 farmer members, with 236 members delivering milk on a daily basis. Land O’Lakes provides the technical assistance and training to the smallholder dairy farmers, which includes milk production, milk handling and hygiene, recordkeeping, pasture establishment and conservation, animal health, extension service development, and quality control procedures at the milk collection site. The ambassador praised Land O’Lakes for installing a 3,000 liter milk tank, which enabled the co-operative to receive milk from dairy farmers and deliver to Parmalat for processing.
Ambassador Martinez and the Land O’Lakes board also visited the farm of Mr. Guy Robinson, President of the Zambia National Farmers Union. Mr. Robinson has a 350-dairy cow operation and is a board member of Makulu Dairies, which has a stake in Parmalat. Mr. Robinson has been very active in assisting the small dairy producers in the Mazabuka area, especially within the communities in Magoye and Pelusa.
Ambassador Martinez encouraged cooperating partners within the dairy industry, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MACO), Golden Valley Research Trust (GART) and Heifer Project International (HPI) to continue their collaborative efforts toward providing technical assistance to the farmers and their cooperative businesses. She indicated that such assistance is instrumental in improving food security and creating wealth in the rural areas, which thereby contributes to poverty reduction and growth in the Zambian economy.
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