Friesland Campina Vietnam officially held the inauguration ceremony for their sustainable dairy zone in the northern province of Ha Nam on June 24, following nearly one year of construction.

The 66-ha dairy zone in Moc Bac commune, Duy Tien district, is projected to become a typical model dairy zone in Ha Nam province.

The goals of the project are to establish and develop specialised dairy zones for family farms, contribute to the nation's food security, create jobs and reduce milk imports.

The ceremony marks an important milestone of "The development of sustainable dairy zones in Vietnam" project, which is in partnership with the Ha Nam authorities and the Dutch Government as part of the Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security for the 2014-18 period.

As planned, eight more dairy farms will be established in this 66-hectare dairy zone through 2017. Each farm will include a dairy herd of 50 to 80 heads and have at least 30 lactating cows.

According to the scope of the project, it is expected that by December, 2018 the specialised dairy zone will be made up of 50 dairy farms and produce at least seven million kilogrammes of fresh milk per year, creating 345 jobs.

As the main partner in the project, Friesland Campina Vietnam undertakes the roles of management, execution and direct investment in building the specialised dairy zone in Ha Nam, with two pilot dairy farms in Moc Bac commune.

The company will carry out specific activities, including developing and implementing training programmes to supply technical advice to farmers; setting up dairy cattle feed producing system; training and connecting technicians to provide artificial insemination services and veterinary treatment.-VNA