Demerara Distillers Limited’s (DDL) Moblissa dairy joint venture aims to produce packaged milk by Feb 2025.
Minister in the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar yesterday morning attended an information session on the US$20m Demerara Dairies Inc. joint venture that is to be built at Moblissa on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
The DDL and LG Group partnership aims to produce 5 million litres of high quality raw milk each year, with the first batch of milk set to be packaged by February 2025, a release on the Ministry of Public Works’ Facebook page said.
Senior members of the company stated the investment will reduce Guyana’s dairy import bill that is currently pegged at US$35m, and provide employment for Guyanese across multiple disciplines.
Indar during his remarks commended the company for its plan to use cutting-edge technology and reiterated his pledge to complete the upgrade of Moblissa’s main access road which leads to the facility.
Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Madanlall Ramraj also offered remarks at the event.
In August of 2022, DDL and the government signed an agreement for the establishment of what was then pegged as a US$15m milk plant following positive results from a feasibility study the company had conducted.
“We have been working on the feasibility and we have come to a conclusion that it was feasible. We presented it and are working on a specific location and so on,” Chairman of DDL Komal Samaroo told Stabroek News then.
In May of that year, Rami Ofer who is Project Manager of the company’s Israeli partner, LR Group’s Livestock had informed that they were in search of land to forge ahead with their plan to house the proposed TOPCO milk plant project for commercial scale production of fresh cow’s milk.
Ofer had explained that the company needed some 600 acres of land to set up its industrial-style farm and that it will be used to house the buildings for some 500 heifers which will be imported, an administration building, solar panel power grid and the farm.
The DDL subsidiary, Tropical Orchard Products Company Limited (TOPCO), in 2021 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the group to commence feasibility and technical studies.
Ofer during the presentation in May 2022 pointed out that the animals will not be on a free-range farm but rather in a confined environment equipped with temperature control for them to thrive in a comfortable environment. This approach, he explained, has been utilized globally in dairy production to ensure the energy of the animal is spent on milk production.
He added that the farming shed will be equipped with irrigation and wind blowing systems which will act as a cooling mechanism for the animals should the temperature be too high.
Ofer further explained that in a bid to prevent manure pollution, they will be collecting the manure to treat it and spread it along their fields to improve the production of the forage crops, which will be used to feed the animals.
“The forage will be harvested and stored and brought to the animals’ table so that they don’t have to go out and waste any energy searching for food. In this way we can produce more milk from the smaller unit of production,” he explained.
