Seeing is believing: the impact of the Rwandese exchange visit
17-07-2018The study tour of dairy cooperative IAKIB from Rwanda in the Netherlands was a great success. From 8 to 14 July, 5 representatives from the cooperative visited the Netherlands for a study tour.
The main aim of this visit of the IAKIB delegation was to gain insights and discover options on how to increase milk production to ensure a higher supply of milk to the cooperative. They also hoped to get inspired by Dutch farmers on how to improve farming practices and explore the latest equipment needed for expanding their animal feed factory.
The five day programme was quite busy, but also fruitful and insightful. “We learned a lot from visiting the organisations and farmers in the fields”, said Agriterra local consultant Jean Remy Muramira.
The history of the Dutch agriculture, shared by business advisors Alex Danissen and Niek Thijssen inspired the IAKIB team on how collective work can lead to sustainable farming systems and how peer-to-peer learning is one factor that can define, shape and improve the future of farming. The team commented after their first visit:
“We learned that when we, as farmers, share ideas we can shape our own future and that is very important to be accountable to our members.”
At the Boerderij Köning, a mixed dairy family farm, the delegation received valuable information not only about production of animal feed and how to use technology to detect heat in cows, but also that being proud as farmers is a key driver: “We learned how using technology can improve our production. It is also very important to like what we are doing, be proud of it and to involve young people in farming activities and inspire them, in order to keep sustainability of what we are doing.”
On the second day the IAKIB delegation visited the dairy cooperative NoorderlandMelk, the dairy processing factory Royal A-ware, the dairy family farm of Van ‘t Klooster and the dairy processing equipment company Ante B.V. From these visits the team gained further insights into various technical issues of dairy processing and a better understanding of the dairy cooperative development both from a business and an organisational perspective.
Boerderij Köning
“We learned the importance of starting small, as we are today, and keep growing day by day, step by step. To work in a collective way and build collaborative linkages with other cooperatives in order to grow big.”
The Noorderland Melk cooperative further provided the team with knowledge about putting the members first, being flexible, organised and concurrently focused on product quality. Adding to this, the visit to the Van ‘t Klooster family dairy farm inspired them on how to build member commitment by focusing on the same vision: “We saw how important it is to communicate on time, to speak the same language and share the same vision with the members in the cooperative while being loyal.”
The visit to the Dairy Breeding centre CRV, which took place on the third day, was also very fruitful. The delegation discovered how “choosing the right breeding system can maximise the profit and minimise the costs”, as was said by manager Valens Ahishakiye.
On the fourth day, the delegation of IAKIB visited the Open Air Museum and the team was delighted with learning about the history of the Netherlands and specifically agriculture: “We discovered that learning from our history we can better design and shape our future! Also, setting a goal, working hard, moving from comfort zone and being focused on that goal is very important.”
Open Air Museum
New knowledge will be put into practice
The information provided from this study tour has inspired and motivated the IAKIB delegation to apply and practice this new knowledge within their cooperative. In particular, one of the representatives commented: “We are going to take care of the animals more, we are going to advice fellow members to give value to the animals.”
Manager Valens Ahishakiye also expressed his gratitude to Agriterra:
“This visit offered us so many practical information! It was the right place to be.”
Lastly, the IAKIB delegation expressed its appreciation and enthusiasm for the exchange visit stating:“It was very organised and everything was very good and we appreciate that. Although we had a busy week, the programme was very rich and we learned relevant things.”
