Visiting Indonesian farmers amazed at cow numbers

Wijaya (23) from Bogor, West Java, was impressed by the discipline among farm workers and the scale and technology of NZ farms.

A priority for him will be upgrading his effluent management system; after heavy rain his effluent pond floods and pollutes nearby streams.

Wijaya was one of a small group of Indonesian farmers and government dairy extension workers who spent a month in NZ visiting Fonterra farmers and processing sites under the co-op's dairy development programme. Wijaya says the visit was an opportunity of a lifetime and he was impressed.

He says dairying in NZ is very different from Indonesia.

"Workers are disciplined and you have better technology," he told Dairy News.

"And farms with 400 cows have only two workers; in Indonesia a farm with 400 cows will have like a factory of workers."

Wijaya has 37 people working on his farm -- 52ha divided into a dairy farm, a fattening operation for cows and a goat farm.

He runs the dairy farm while the other two divisions are leased. He has 75 cows but milks 34 cows twice a day; the morning milk is processed into mozzarella on the farm and the afternoon milk is sent by tanker to the Indonesian subsidiary of FrieslandCampina, a European co-op.

Wijaya took his plunge into farming aged 17; he borrowed US$400 from his father to buy goats and sold them for profit at religious festivals. He went into dairy farming with the help of Indonesian government officials running a local dairy farm.

Another Indonesian farmer, Egi Giantara, from Sumedang, described himself as more typical of Indonesian dairy farmers: he runs 12 cows in partnership with his brother and parents and supplies a local cooperative.

The visit to NZ had inspired Giantara to start using supplementary feeding to improve volume and milksolids, and to rent land to increase cow numbers.

Fonterra's director of social responsibility, Carolyn Mortland, said the dairy development programme is crucial to ensure the cooperative continues building support in offshore markets.

The development work supports the growth of sustainable dairy farming in key markets where Fonterra operates, such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka, sharing its expertise and working with local farmers, governments and industry bodies.

"As a global business, for us to continue growing in our most important markets, we need to have strong local partnerships. Supporting the sustainability of local dairy industries within these markets is a natural way to achieve this," says Mortland.

Awarded for support

Fonterra has won a top social responsibility award in Indonesia for its dairy scholarships for local farmers.

The scheme was named Indonesia's Best Corporate Social Initiative for Social Responsible Business Practice in the 2016 MIX Marketing Communications Magazine Awards.

Fonterra director social responsibility Carolyn Mortland says the award is for the co-op's support of communities in its markets.

"Our dairy development programme is one of the ways we build relationships with local dairy industries and governments to create strong local partnerships, which in turn grows market opportunities.

"We've seen great results from this programme: last year close to 90% of the farmers we worked with reported improved milk quality. Others were producing more milk as a result of new milk hygiene, animal care and farm management practices."

The scholarship programme is now in its fourth year.