Dairy farming
In the East Java milk district, around 32,000 dairy farmers supply milk to Nestlé‘s Kejayan factory through 31 dairy cooperatives. With support from Nestle's Milk Procurement and Dairy Development Department, they have been able to improve their dairy farming practices to increase productivity and command a premium for higher-quality milk.
The initial focus for productivity improvement was on improved fodder, feed and animal health. The partnership has also benefited other villagers who obtained employment in the production process ranging from cooperative managers to grass collectors.
In addition, Nestlé is currently operating two biogas projects. A three-year partnership with the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS) is helping dairy cooperatives gain access to biogas units to convert methane from their cattle‘s manure into useable energy.
We facilitate access to financial assistance, while HIVOS constructs the biogas units and provides training, and the aim is to set up 8000 biogas units in total.
Where the Nestlé/HIVOS project is not active, another smaller project has been set up with farmers supplying the Kejayan factory, to reduce their impact on the environment – and particularly on water resources – and to save energy at a household level, Nestlé has set up a fund to provide dairy cooperatives with 50 small biogas units and 10 larger units. The renewable energy (methane) they create is made available to dairy farmers. An estimated 8300 people will initially benefit from these two projects but our aim is to ultimately extend this project to all dairy farmers in the region.
