A dairy movement on the cards in Dhofar

SALALAH, Jan 6 - A partnership between Al Morooj Dairy Company and Indian Dairy Machinery Company Ltd (IDMC) has all the potential of a dairy movement in Oman, which can boost dairy production in Dhofar and provide sustainability to the livestock population in the governorate. A partnership agreement was signed between newly formed Al Marooj Dairy Company and IDMC at Hilton Salalah Resort Salalah on Sunday under the auspices of Sayyid Mohammed bin Sultan bin Hamoud al Busaidy, Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar. The project has an ambitious plan of collecting cow and camel milk, initially from the mountain villages of Dhofar, and then from all over Dhofar through milk collection centres. The idea behind the project is to channelise the milk production by the villagers and offer them proper market at their doorstep. The aggregate capacity of the project is estimated at 19,027 litres of cow milk per day and 7,827 litres of camel milk per day at the completion stage of the pilot project, which was launched with the signing of the agreement. Under the agreement the IDMC has agreed to support the project with facilities like pasteurisation, packaging and marketing of milk, as the IDMC holds great experience in this area. Saleh al Shanfari, CEO of Oman Food Investment Holding Company (OFIC), called the project an important food security initiative of the Sultanate. “This is an effort to move the traditional production processes to updated processes that apply the best international practices in this regard.” “The project strategy is to target small livestock farmers in Dhofar governorate in order to make a qualitative shift in animal husbandry activities in the traditional livestock sector in the long run. This will enable the traditional sector to contribute to the national economy by adding value, maximising the return on breeders from animal husbandry, creating job opportunities for citizens and creating viable economic stability,” he said. Overall the project is aimed at empowering the rural communities and preserving the unique natural environment of Dhofar Governorate. The project aims at sustaining animal husbandry within a new economic foundation that adopts investment concepts and economic feasibility as an incentive for animal husbandry. The IDMC representative and signatory of the agreement, Rajkumar Malik, vice-president Sales and Marketing, called it a good move where there is potential for dairy co-operative movement in which milk would be collected from farmers at milk collection centres. “There would be segregation of camel and cow milk. The milk would be stored in cooling tanks, which would be transported to the processing plant… The milk would be collected directly from the farmers, giving them assurance of marketing of their product on daily basis,” he said. The move, according to Malik, is a good beginning. “Quantity initially would not be much but the farmers would be motivated to keep more cattle and there would be the best quality milk available in the local market.”