DDL subsidiary targeting CARICOM cow’s milk market

Last Updated on Sunday, 24 November 2024, 21:51 by Writer

DDL Chairman, Komal Samaroo, and DDL’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and DDI’s Finance Director Vasudeo Singh.

Demerara Dairies Inc (DDI), a subsidiary of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), is eyeing a double-digit share of the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) cow’s milk market when the company begins production at a highly technologically driven farm at the more than 200 acre Moblissa facility, officials said Sunday.

According to DDL’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and DDI’s Finance Director, Vasudeo Singh, the company plans to produce 5 million litres annually. DDL Chairman, Komal Samaroo said that scale of production was estimated at about 15 to 20 percent of the regional production. “There is room for growth. This is the first phase. Let’s get this right first and the better we do this, the faster we’ll grow,” he told reporters during a tour of the facility.

DDL Projects Executive Lorris Nathoo said “first milk” is due at the end of the third quarter or start of the fourth quarter of 2025 following the arrival of 500 dairy cows from the United States during the first week of June, 2025.

Mr Singh said US$9 million of the budgeted US$20 million has been spent on the project. “This is a massive investment by our company to see this most transformative project not only for Guyana but for the entire Caribbean,” he said. DDL intends to replace its reconstituted imported powdered milk exports with locally produced milk, he said.

Mr Samaroo said the cows, which are suited for Guyana’s “unique” climatic conditions, would be fitted with gadgets to monitor their health and overall performance. “This farm here is done on a very scientific basis where each animal is outfitted with an electronic device so that their production and their health can be monitored digitally,” he said.

He said the reconstituted powdered milk has allowed DDL to secure a foothold in the local and Caribbean markets of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and St Kitts-Nevis while DDI prepares to put locally-made milk on the shelves. “That was the first stage of a market-led growth strategy: to build a brand, create a market and then work on the backward integration as we seek to build domestic supply chain that flows into our manufacturing,” Mr Samaroo said.

The company is currently constructing the first large pen of 80,000 square feet and would be building milking parlours. DDI is also planting several varieties of grass and has begun stockpiling bales of hay to be added to the cows’ feed. Mr Nathoo said that for the first 18 months DDI hopes that large contract farmers can also supply grass for the facility. “The feedstock can be stored so the intention is that by the time the cows are here, we’ll have three to six months of feedstock so we’ll begin building up that feedstock from now,” he said.

In terms of water and electricity supplies, consultant Elwyn Marshall said Linden Utility Services Cooperative Society Limited would supply Moblissa with electricity through a special medium voltage cable that would be run from the town to Moblissa. He said residents in Amelia’s Ward and Moblissa would be afforded the opportunity to connect to that cable as regular consumers.

DDL’s Government Affairs Consultant, Wesley Kirton said the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has been contacted about using nearby creek water. The company is also planning to drill several water wells to ensure adequate water supply for the facility. “We already have one well drilled that is providing enough water for the animals but we need large quantities for the irrigation (of the grass fields),” Mr Nathoo added.

DDI is also lobbying government to upgrade the Moblissa Road from the junction with the Soesdyke-Linden Highway to the Moblissa farm to ensure that vehicles that would be transporting milk from the facility to DDL’s processing plant at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, are not delayed because milk is a very sensitive commodity. “It needs to be an all-weather road that allows us to bring in the equipment for our project and take our production to the packaging plant. Milk is a perishable item. We can’t be stuck and wait to pull a truck out and all of that. It has to be a reliable infrastructure by the end of this project to make it successful,” Mr Samaroo said.

The Moblissa Dairy project dates back to the 1970s under the then People’s National Congress (PNC)-led administration but that State-owned initiative eventually flopped.