Smart Farmers, Safe Milk, Green Cows

More milk means more money for the 100,000 small dairy farmers in Indonesia who are dependent on milk for their daily income.  These farms generally have only 3-5 dairy cows producing on average jus 10 litres of milk per cow, per day, which is very low by world standards.

Though not the poorest farming sector, an estimated 93% of dairy farmers rely on dairy as their main source of income, and many struggle to make ends meet. Milk quality is also an issue with many farmers unable to meet Government and market quality standards for fresh milk.

The Indonesian Government objective plans to achieve 50% self-sufficiency across the dairy sector, up from the current 25%.  With a growing middle class desiring the nutritional benefits of dairy products, and the gap between supply and demand continuing to widen, SNV sees the dairy sector as a priority.

Collaborating with the Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) an 18 month pilot project that began in June 2012 was conducted in East and West Java to test potential initiatives to increase milk production and quality and ultimately dairy farmer income.

Next steps in dairy…

SNV is working on the ongoing development of practical interventions and business models that focus on dairy farmer profitability.

In 2014-2015, SNV is implementing the project ‘Integrated Action for Dairy: Increasing Milk Production through Improved Feed and Water Provision’ aims to increase both production and quality of milk. The improvement of the quality of animal feed and fodder also directly impacts on the reduction of GHG emissions.

The overall strategy is to engage companies and farmers to develop the maize silage market to ensure quality year round roughages.

Major project activities will focus initially in Jabung, Malang before expanding to Boyolali and Wonosobo.

The project is a joint intervention between SNV and dairy processor, Nestle; agricultural company Dupont, and Vesteergard, a company that specialises in pest control solutions, and Kan Jabung, a dairy cooperative. Working together the aim is to improve the livelihoods of 400 farmers in the target areas. The intention is to then scale up to other areas of Indonesia.

The project aims to increase dairy farmer livelihoods through:

• Access and training of new technologies and practices in feeding, animal health and welfare

• Developing the maize silage market to better ensure

• Uniform quality and regular supply

• Improved nutrition

• Extended farmer reach

• Shorter planting cycles

• Improving quality of feed concentrate

• Introduction of ZeroFly – insecticide-incorporated screens to reduce flies