Helping smallholder farmers produce locally sourced high-quality milk


According to the International Farm Comparison Network, of the 960 million tonnes of milk produced globally, 377 million tonnes are currently produced by smallholder farms.

Within the next decade, our global demand for milk is set to overtake supply, putting the dairy industry under immense pressure. With our industry expertise, we help secure a long-term supply of locally produced quality milk and minimise food loss. 

Launched in 2011, the Dairy Hub programme links local smallholder farmers to dairy processors and provides relevant cooling infrastructure and technology along with training services to help increase the supply of locally produced, high-quality milk. 

As a result since the start, more than 54,000 smallholder farmers have delivered milk to our customers and been provided access to formal markets – while improving livelihoods and increasing income of local farmers.

Plant and man, 54.000

Helping 54.000 smallholder farmers deliver milk to customers in Dairy Hub programmes.

Cow and 150%

Increasing yield per cow by 150% in Kenya.

144% increasement

Increasing smallholder farmers’ monthly income by +144% in Bangladesh.

Dairy development in Nicaragua

Moving food forward

Man pouring milk from bucket

Improving milk collection for up to 10,000 farmers in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, more than 90% of dairy farmers produce small quantities of milk that do not justify long distance transportation. That is why in 2011, together with our customer PRAN RTL, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and UNIDO, we helped launch five Dairy Hubs providing better infrastructure for milk collection and transportation. With local collection centres within a 15-25km reach, we can enable even the smallest farmers to deliver their milk twice a day, increasing milk yield per cow by 143 percent and average monthly income per smallholder by 144 percent.

Men around a cow

Increasing milk production in Uganda by 79 percent

Uganda’s dairy sector plays a crucial role in the economic development of the country and is a vital source of nutrition for the country’s population. However, the sector faces various processing challenges, losing 67 percent of its dairy products to informal collection and inefficient value chains. As part of the Pearl Dairy Farm Community, we helped provide hands-on technical assistance to 1,000 dairy farmers in south-west Uganda, linking these to a dedicated processor and improving milk production by 79 percent per farm on average.

How we contribute

Our journey

Girl in school

Increasing access to safe, nutritious food

Combining our global network with food packaging, processing, and technical expertise, we are committed to making food safe and available.

Green and red peppers

Reducing food loss and waste

Together with our customers, we develop high-performance food processing solutions to minimise food loss and create food packaging solutions that help increase shelf life and reduce food waste.1

Women in a rice field

Building sustainable food value chains

Together with our suppliers and partners, we support, develop and supply solutions that encourage sustainable production, processing, packaging, distribution, and consumption.

Explore further

Two men shaking hands in the field

Collaboration

On our journey towards addressing global challenges related to food security and nutrition, it is essential to collaborate between stakeholders. Learn more how we collaborate throughout our journey.

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1By positive impact we mean driving better outcome for our own workforce, workers and communities in our supply chain, workers in collection and recycling and people in our value chain affected by climate change and the transition to net-zero in the areas of labour, discrimination, hazardous working conditions and sustainable income, among others