The Dairy Hub model continues to boost dairy productivity and self-sufficiency

The Dairy Hub model, which helps Tetra Pak customers to connect with local smallholder farmers and milk collection centres, is helping to build more sustainable dairy value chains around the world.

Introducing the Dairy Hub model

The Dairy Hub model aims to secure a long-term supply of locally produced, quality milk, without raising the cost of collection in emerging economies. It does so by linking smallholder farmers to a dairy processor, with Tetra Pak and Food for Development offering the technology and ‘hands-on’ practical knowledge and training.

The model links smallholder farmers to a more stable market through a committed dairy processor willing to invest in the local milk supply chain. The farmers receive training and technical support from local Extension Officers that are focused on improving farm profitability and development. The Extension Officers in turn receive technical training from dairy experts at Food for Development, and then share their knowledge with reference farmers, who transfer it to a wider community of farmers.

Increasing milk production in Panama

The local dairy sector in Panama annually produces around 180 million litres of milk while the domestic demand is 480 million1), including fluid milk, various national milk products and imported dairy products. Smallholder farmers struggle with low incomes and a low average daily yield of 3.8 litres per cow2). To support the development of a more self-sufficient dairy sector, Tetra Pak customer and dairy processor Industrias Lácteas, S.A. with the support from Tetra Pak and Food for Development, has introduced the Dairy Hub model.

There were improvements already in the first few months of the project in 2022, where milk collection increased 8.5 per cent, from 106,000 to 115,000 litres per day. The reference farms also improved milk yield per farm about 4.4 per cent, and the average smallholder farmer gross income increased 4.2 per cent compared to before the hub.

Creating a more self-sufficient dairy sector in the Dominican Republic

While the Dominican Republic’s dairy sector is an important source of local employment, it is not able to supply the full range of dairy products consumed domestically. Dairy processors source all the locally produced milk that meets the quality standards and cooperate with farmers and milk collection centres to improve compliance with these standards. However, the Ministry of Agriculture estimates that about 70 per cent³⁾ of milk produced does not meet the standards due to inadequate sanitary standards and cold chain limitations.

To ensure a more self-sufficient dairy sector and supply of local quality milk, a Dairy Hub model has been introduced by Tetra Pak customers Coopesur and Agampta, together with Food for Development. 

Coopesur is working with 40 reference farms that will benefit from the project during the first year. In the first few months, the farmers reported a 15 per cent average increase in milk production per farm compared to the baseline prior to their involvement in the Dairy Hub. At the 18 reference farms that Agampta is working with, milk production increased on average by around 21 per cent compared to the baseline. In addition, Coopesur reported an increase of smallholder farmer income by almost 15 per cent on average and Agampta by 26 per cent. Both companies also presented an improvement of productivity per cow and the total collection of raw milk.

¹⁾ El Ministerio de Desarrolló Agropecuario (Mida), 2021.

²⁾ El Ministerio de Desarrolló Agropecuario (Mida), 2021.

³⁾ Source:  Dirección General de Ganadería (DIGEGA)

School feeding programme addresses malnutrition in the Philippines

One in four children in the Philippines are considered to suffer from malnutrition. To address the problem, the Department of Education has launched a national school feeding programme. Tetra Pak and Food for Development play an active role in the programme by sharing best practices in food safety and providing technical assistance so children can have access to safe nutrition. 

School feeding and nutrition programmes around the world have proven to have a major positive impact on children’s physical health, development and learning outcomes as food at school often is the first meal of the day for many children. They have also proven to play an important role in supporting local agriculture development.  

According to the Philippines Expanded National Nutrition Survey, one in four children aged of five to ten are underweight. One in four children are ‘stunted’ (below their expected height for their age) and 7.8 per cent of children are ‘wasted’ (below their expected weight for their height). 

To address these challenges, the Department of Education introduced a School Based Feeding Program (SBFP) with the objective of improving nutrition and school performance among school children. As part of the initiative, a law was passed by the government to institutionalise a national school feeding programme for undernourished children in public day-care, kindergarten and elementary schools. The national school feeding programme benefits 1,837,000 children, mainly from five to twelve years of age. As part of the meals, fortified white milk and flavoured milk are being prioritised as a valuable source of nutrition. 

UHT milk in Tetra Wedge® Aseptic

Tetra Pak and Food for Development provide technical support to the school feeding programme where they share best practice in the organisation and implementation of school milk programmes, as well as provide environmental education. To tackle the infrastructure problems and the lack of refrigeration, Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk in Tetra Wedge® Aseptic 200 ml Slim packages have been introduced to ensure that children in various parts of the country have access to safe nutrition. In the first phase, the UHT milk is being distributed by Tetra Pak customer RFM Corporation in three of the seventeen regions in the country, covering almost 360,000 children.

Long engagement in school feeding programmes

“For decades, we have been working with our customers and relevant stakeholders to support school feeding programmes around the world because we believe they are effective in addressing poor health and nutrition in disadvantaged communities,” says Michael Wu, Managing Director, Tetra Pak Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia. “We commit to making food safe and available, everywhere. This is why we make sure that school children get all the goodness of milk to have the energy to stay in school and get that brain boost they need for learning.”

“Milk helps school kids reach their physical and cognitive potential. Aside from making it accessible, it is imperative that the milk stays fresh and safe even as we transport it to hard-to-reach areas or those with limited storage facilities,” says Marie Concepcion-­Young, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Group of RFM Corporation.