Thai Minister of Agriculture Visits FrieslandCampina in Amersfoort
H.E. Mr. Grisada Boonrach, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), Thailand together with H.E. Eksiri Pintaruchi, Ambassador of Thailand, Royal Thai Embassy (the Hague) and high ranking delegation from Thai MOAC conducted a visit to FrieslandCampina’s head office in Amersfoort, the Netherlands on 11th April.
The delegation was welcomed by Royal FrieslandCampina’s CEO and member of the Executive Board, Hein Schumacher, to discuss the potential development of promoting Thai – Dutch dairy sector collaboration. Sustainable dairy farming development and the benefits of cooperation between Thailand and the Netherlands to support Thai dairy farmers in improving milk quality and yield are also discussed. The Minister also visited a dairy farm owned by one of the members of the FrieslandCampina Dairy Cooperative. FrieslandCampina is a global leading dairy industry with more than 145 years of experience in dairy farming and is the parent company of Foremost, a leading manufacturer and distributor of dairy products in Thailand.
Dairy food consumption in Thailand is growing.
The dairy food (milk and products) demand in Thailand is growing steadily. In 2017, dairy consumption in Thailand reached 1.2 billion litres comparing with 930 million litres in 2010. Thailand is one of Southeast Asia’s largest dairy industries and is expanding on its dairy capacity to better respond to growing market demands. The challenge of Thai dairy industry is feed management and herd nutrition to improve production, health and reproductive performance of dairy herds under tropical condition.
Thai government agencies and business sector are promoting milk consumption. The promotion of the benefits of milk prompted children to exceed the recommended milk consumption of 400ml per day (Yothasamut, 2018).
Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has cooperated with Thai Ministry of Public Health by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and dairy industry to increase the country's annual milk consumption from 18 liters per head to 25 liters per head per year by 2026. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) designates June 1st of every year as the World Milk Day to raise people awareness of the significance of milk consumption. Currently, Thais drink about 18 liters of milk per head per year, which is relatively low compared to people in Japan, Europe and the United States. Milk consumption is good for people’s health and also supports dairy farmers (Thai News – PRD, 2018).
Currently Thais drink about 18 liters of milk per head per year, which is relatively low.