Stakeholders in the 4 billion Guyana dollar state of the art dairy farm being developed at Moblissa on the Soesdyke Linden Highway in Guyana have pledged their continued support to what they describe as “this transformational project” which will result in the production of five million litres of fresh milk annually and generate over 200 direct and indirect jobs when operational. Demerara Dairies Incorporated (DDI) is a joint venture between Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and its international partner LR Group of Israel.
The stakeholders, which include several agencies of the Government of Guyana, local contractors and suppliers and the small community of about 1,000 inhabitants, many indigenous Amerindians, pledged their continued support of the dairy farm at a media outreach Friday held at the site of the project.
The Government of Guyana through its Public Works Ministry has contracted for the upgrading of the road and a bridge across a creek leading to the farm while the Ministry of Agriculture continues to collaborate through its agencies -the Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) and the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI). Contractors retained by DDI have pledged to continue to provide high quality construction and related services to ensure the targeted completion of the project by February 2025 when the farm is scheduled to begin producing milk.
Suppliers, both local and foreign of equipment, plant and related material have also pledged to continue to effectively supply the needs of the project notwithstanding the challenges of the supply chain. DDI has already purchased several tractors, and ploughs along with limestone, fertilisers and seeds which are being utilised on site.
Community leaders voiced their ongoing support for the farm noting that already they have been benefitting from the project through direct and indirect employment and the new road leading to the new bridge now under construction. They expressed the hope that the road beyond the bridge will be completed soon. The visiting media and officials also viewed an unfinished building which is intended to serve as a community centre and which DDI has pledged to complete by the end of the first quarter of this year. A request for proposals for the completion of this building is currently out to pre-qualified contractors.
Media operatives on Friday witnessed work in progress on the construction of the new bridge as well as land clearing and other pre-development activity on the project site. Speaking at the media outreach, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar praised DDL for embarking on this massive project and expressed the government’s continued commitment to ensuring that the required public infrastructure is in place to meet the targeted completion of the project.
Director General in the Ministry of Agriculture, Madanlall Ramraj in expressing his ministry’s ongoing support, said the project was a meaningful fit into the desire of CARICOM member states to reduce the region’s food import bill by 25% by 2025. Guyana alone imports about 35 million US dollars in milk annually.
The first phase of the farm’s operation will consist of 500 milking cows and 415 heifers accommodated in temperature controlled pens with feeding stations; a feed centre where a special diet will be prepared for feeding the animals; a milking parlour; a nursery/clinic for animals needing medical attention; a monitoring room which will keep track of the health and behaviour of each animal through an implanted chip; a cold storage facility with loading bays; administrative office, special sanitization facilities for workers entering the facility; and a viewing gallery for visitors to the farm.
Additionally, the farm will have under cultivation some 500 acres of field crops including grass, corn, and legumes. Already 100 acres have been leased to DDI by the Guyana Lands & Surveys Commission (GL&SC) which has also permitted arrangements for the use of another 150 acres held by private farmers under lease from the government. DDI is working with the GL&SC and private farmers for access to the additional required acreage.
Milk produced at the farm will be transported from the farm to the already installed processing and packaging plant at TOPCO, a DDL subsidiary at Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara. TOPCO currently processes powdered milk for packaging into its popular Savanah brand of milk as well as a range of TOPCO fruit juices.
“Two years ago, we started to produce liquid milk from reconstituted, imported milk powder. That was the first stage of our process because we believe in market-led growth. And we wanted to start building a brand before getting into the production of milk using our own farm,” DDI Chairman Komal Samaroo told the gathering. He said the dairy farm is the most challenging undertaking of the company, but he remained confident in its success because of the expert and dedicated team involved in its execution as well as the expressed ongoing commitment of support from all stakeholders.
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