PRAN Dairy and Arla Foods to Collaborate for Sustainable Dairy Production

01 December 2021, Dhaka

PRAN Dairy Limited, the country’s leading dairy company, and Arla Foods Bangladesh Limited, the local subsidiary of European dairy cooperative Arla Foods have initiated a collaboration with an objective to showcase a market-driven and sustainable dairy production to increase milk productivity and quality, alongside economic output of the local dairy value chain in Bangladesh in line with governmental ambitions for the development of the domestic dairy sector. 

Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman & CEO of PRAN-RFL Group and Peter Hallberg, Managing Director of Arla Foods Bangladesh Limited signed a Letter of Intent recently at the Arla Foods Bangladesh HQ to mark the commencement of the collaboration.

The event was also attended by Eleash Mridha Managing Director of PRAN Group, Md Muniruzzaman, Executive Director of PRAN Dairy and Galib Bin Mohammad, Head of Marketing; Sumaita Khan, Manager, CSR & Alternative Channel Management and Toni Lehtonen, Commercial Project Manager of Arla Foods.

In the primary phase of the collaboration, both organizations will conduct farm assessments to build capacity and to identify opportunities for more sustainable dairy farming solutions. Subsequently, a series of training sessions will be conducted targeting trainers, extension staff and other relevant stakeholders to supplement the ongoing dairy activities. Additionally, apart from strengthening the local dairy value chain, there will be further collaboration with Bangladesh Agricultural University to collect data systematically and scientifically to analyze social, environmental, and economic impact of the collaboration.

Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman & CEO PRAN-RFL Group said, “We have a huge opportunity to do well in the dairy sector of Bangladesh. PRAN Dairy is working closely with the contractual dairy farmers at remote places and giving various support and training for their skill development. But we need to give more emphasis on sustainable dairy production to increase milk productivity and quality, alongside economic output of the local dairy value chain in Bangladesh. I hope the initiative will bring good contribution to our dairy sector.”

Stressing on the importance of the project, Peter Hallberg, Managing Director of Arla Foods Bangladesh stated, “In any country we operate in the world, we act responsible towards its societies. We feel that we can contribute significantly to the overall development of the dairy sector, supporting the goals of the country. As the fourth largest dairy cooperative in the world, with over 100 years of dairy experience, we are in a unique position to deliver commercial success for the dairy farmers in Bangladesh in the development of the sector and to do so sustainability. It’s at the heart of everything we do and core to our new corporate strategy – Future26. We look forward to collaborating with our partners on this venture and to adding a valuable contribution with our extensive knowledge and experience of sustainable dairy farming, food safety and technology.”

PRAN Dairy Limited is working with the dairy farmers closely in different parts of the country and started milk collection in 2001 to meet the growing demand of milk. It has developed the ‘Dairy Hub’ concept in Bangladesh and the aim of setting up a dairy hub was to collect milk from the dairy farmers directly so that they get fair price and make Bangladesh self-sufficient in dairy. PRAN has seven dairy hubs and more than 100 milk collection and chilling centers under the hub.  Farmers get related services through the centers under Dairy hub. PRAN Dairy has 12 thousand contract farmers. Every day, PRAN collects more than 2 lakh liters of milk on an average directly from farmers. The collected milk has been brought to the Narsingdi factory through own vehicles.

Arla Foods Bangladesh Ltd has been operating in Bangladesh since 2014 along with its FSSC 22000 (V5) certified packaging facility located in Konabari, Gazipur. Its portfolio currently includes Dano Power, Dano Growth Shakti and Dano Daily Pushti, providing dairy nourishment and nutrition to millions every month.

About

Arla Foods is an international dairy company owned by 9,400 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Arla Foods is one of the leading players in the international dairy arena with well-known brands like Arla®, Lurpak®, Puck®, Castello® and Dano®. Arla Foods is focused on providing good dairy nourishment from sustainable farming and operations and is also the world's largest manufacturer of organic dairy products. Dano® gives access to milk to millions of Bangladesh people at an affordable price. The company has already created over 1600 direct and additional indirect jobs with its operation in Bangladesh.

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