On Monday 29 October Hein Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer of FrieslandCampina, and Marc Calon, Chairman of the Board of Agriterra, signed an agreement to extend the partnership between the two organisations for another period of 5 years.
FrieslandCampina and Agriterra have been working together since 2012 and share the ambition to improve the livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers in Asia and Africa by sharing Dutch dairy knowledge and expertise.
Dairy development
The dairy cooperative has been sharing Dutch dairy expertise for over 35 years with dairy farmers in specific countries in the context of its Dairy Development Programme (
DDP). The aim of DDP is to boost dairy production, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in a sustainable way to support farmers to get a better living. In the partnership FrieslandCampina and Agriterra also work on youth leadership to make the dairy sector more attractive for future generations to improve food security.
Schumacher: “The partnership is one of the ways in which FrieslandCampina brings its purpose
nourishing by nature to life. By joining forces with Agriterra we support farmers in other parts of the world to make a better living and improve food security. Member farmers and employees of FrieslandCampina come back energized from their missions, because in little time they have been able to support dairy cooperatives to take great steps. I look forward to continuing to make an impact together with Agriterra.”
Calon: “We believe in the positive effects of the transfer of cooperative knowledge by FrieslandCampina experts. Agriterra’s pool of experts from the Dutch cooperative sector is a unique feature in the approach of Agriterra. Agripool experts advise, train and share experiences on a peer-to-peer basis. They speak the language of the farmers. This Memorandum of Cooperation is an expression of shared ambitions, objectives in dairy development worldwide. We are excited to be working with FrieslandCampina for the next 5 years.”
