PT Frisian Flag Indonesia, SNV partner for climate-smart dairy farming

INDONESIA – PT Friesian Flag Indonesia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SNV Netherlands Development Organization, and Invest International to launch the Climate Smart Demo Farms initiative.

The multi-year, multi-stakeholder effort initiative aims to build a sustainable, productive, and climate-change-adaptive dairy farming system while empowering smallholder farmers to transition into medium-sized farmers with more stable incomes.

Welcoming this initiative was the Director of Veterinary Public Health at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. drh. Nuryani Zainuddin, M.Si.

He said that he fully supports the Frisian Flag Indonesia initiative as a real effort to support the welfare of smallholder dairy farmers by increasing productivity while transforming the livestock sector towards a more sustainable and adaptive direction to climate challenges.

“This program will be one of the important development models in the development of modern livestock in Indonesia and we hope that it can be replicated into a larger program in the future,” he said.

Henri Bisschop, Dairy Development Director of FrieslandCampina Asia, stated that over the next 2–3 years, their ambition is to establish several Demo Farms (30 cows each) focused on reducing carbon emissions per litre of milk.

“We’ve applied for pilot funding from the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development through SNV, and plan to scale the validated model with support from Invest International, empowering smallholder farmers across Java,” he said.

This program is crucial in the midst of the challenges of the national dairy sector. The contribution of local fresh milk is only around 20%, while small farmers support more than 90% of production with an average of only 2–4 cows.

Farmers also face challenges related to climate change, including declining feed quality and reduced water availability. Increased productivity and resilience are necessary for small farmers to develop and play a greater role in meeting national milk needs sustainably.

Corporate Affairs Director of Frisian Flag Indonesia, Andrew F. Saputro, said, the signing of this memorandum of understanding is a commitment to supporting the empowerment and welfare of local dairy farmers.

He stated that the company also aims to contribute to the nation’s progress by strengthening the sustainable food and livestock sector.

“In line with our vision, Nourishing Indonesia to Progress, the Climate Smart Demo Farm project is a flagship program designed to answer the challenges of food security, nutrition, and environmental issues,” he said.

The signing of the MoU was carried out by Frisian Flag Indonesia’s Corporate Affairs Director, Andrew F. Saputro, together with representatives from SNV and Invest International.

This activity was also witnessed by the Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Indonesia, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Development, Michiel Sweers.

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