Land O’Lakes International Development Division (IDD) made announcements this week about programs in three different countries.

The recent award of a USDA-funded dairy development program in the Republic of the Philippines under the Food for Progress program will expand Land O’Lakes current dairy development activities into six dairy zones across the island of Mindanao. The program is designed to increase affordability of improved dairy cattle, provide training to farmers in herd management practices and expanding dairy market linkages, to increase production of high-quality raw milk and expand opportunities to produce and sell dairy products locally. Read more here.

Land O’Lakes IDD also announced the launch of the Dairy Enhancement in Eastern Province (DEEP) Program in Sri Lanka. The program’s overall objective is to connect Eastern Province dairy farmers to the dairy value chain and increase economic opportunities for participating dairy farmers. The program will provide financial grants, technical assistance and training to participating program farmers aimed to improve on-farm productivity, and also mobilize farmers into Milk Producer Groups (MPGs) that will feed into program Milk Collection Centers (MCCs) and link these centers to a consistent buyer of raw milk. Read more here.

Finally, Land O’Lakes IDD announced the final phase of the Fallujah Widow’s Dairy Development Program in Iraq. The goal of this program, which started in October 2008, is to create a sustainable source of income for dairy farmers by providing a market for their excess milk and enough dairy products to meet consumers’ demand. Phase Three of the program is to build a Modular Milk Collection plant that will provide training and employment opportunities for women, as well as introduce raw and value-added dairy products such as pasteurized milk in bulk, sachets and yogurt in different sized packaging. Read more here.