The government on Tuesday signed an investment agreement with Demerara Dairy Inc (DDI) for the establishment of a $3B state-of-the-art dairy farm and milk processing facility.
When completed, the establishment is expected to create 70 direct jobs and another 150 jobs indirectly.
The agreement was handed over by Guyana’s Chief Investment Officer and Agency Head of the Guyana Office for Investment, Dr Peter Ramsaroop to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) Komal Samaroo.
“Milk is a very internationally competitive commodity and so we have designed a dairy farm with updated technology in the world so that the milk that we produce in the farm in Guyana can compete in the regional market against milk imported from other parts of the world,” Samaroo told the Department of Public Information (DPI).
The farm will be located at Moblissa. It will see the cultivation of 250 hectares of field crops, the construction of a 22-tonne per day animal feed centre, and a 13.7 tonnes per day raw milk dairy farm.
The processing plant will be at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
The first phase will see the utilisation of some 925 animals (500 milking cows, and 415 heifers). Each cow is estimated to produce 10,000 litres of milk annually. The processing plant at Diamond will be capable of producing some 19.2 tonnes or 18,600 litres of premium milk products.
“We expect to have the first milk produced in the third quarter of next year. This investment agreement here today will allow us to install the necessary equipment to process and package that milk to an internationally acceptable standard for the domestic and export market,” Samaroo said.
He noted that the DDL is on a major expansion programme, building brands on a competitive basis as he mentioned the launch of the Savannah Milk Brand a few years ago.
“There is an export opportunity and there is the reduction of import. So, on all sides of the economic spectrum, there are benefits that will accrue to Guyana,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Ramsaroop noted that this will revolutionise the local dairy industry and reduce dependency on such imports.
He noted that the Caribbean imports more than a billion (USD) worth of powdered and box milk from New Zealand and Australia.
“To see Guyana step into the production facility, we had an earlier investor Amaya that is taking milk from Region Five, and bottling it. This is now moving to a higher level. It’s in Region Ten, significant job opportunities will be available for Region Ten residents,” Dr Ramsaroop stated.
He noted that this fits into President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s vision and the vision of CARICOM reducing the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025 and the efforts to brand Guyana as a major producer in agriculture.
The investment is a joint venture between Tropical Orchard Products Company Limited, a subsidiary of Demerara Distillers Limited and LG Group, an Israeli company. The Guyana Office for Investment played an active role in facilitating this investment. [DPI]
