Frisian Flag Indonesia Strengthens Children's Sustainable Livestock And Nutrition Programs

Illustration of dairy farmers (ANTARA)

JAKARTA With more than 100 years of experience, PT Frisian Flag Indonesia (FFI), part of FrieslandCampina, strengthens strategic partnerships and training initiatives for local Indonesian dairy cattle breeders.

Through the Dairy Development Program (DDP), FFI aims to implement good daily farming practices (GDFP) and empower local breeders in carrying out sustainable dairy farming practices.

Head of DDP PT Frisian Flag Indonesia, Akhmad Sawaldi explained, the sustainable practice of dairy farming is in line with the vision of Nourishing Indonesia to Progress to advance a healthy, prosperous, and harmonious Indonesia.

"Through a partnership with local dairy farmers, we empower them to implement environmentally friendly practices which will ultimately increase productivity and quality of fresh milk," he said, Thursday, December 5.

Currently, Frisian Flag Indonesia is partnering with 22 large farmer/farm cooperatives that oversee around 30,000 local breeders.

One of the successful partnership programs is Dairy Village, which is part of the Dairy4Development project in collaboration with international partners such as Bless Dairies (Netherlands), Agriterra (Netherlands), and WageningenUR Livestock Research (Netherlands), as well as local partners KPSBU Lembang and KPBS Pangalengan.

This project aims to reform Indonesia's fresh milk farming industry by implementing sustainable livestock practices and increasing milk production and quality.

"Through capacity building, infrastructure development of milk collection, and development of training programs and innovation testing, we build a brighter future for sustainable milk farming," added Akhmad.

The Dairy Village program, which began in 2013, developed a private village as a hub' that combines 5-10 breeders in one location. This hub provides professional consultation services and serves as a place for milk collection with cooling units to ensure the quality of tested and cooled milk.

Through this program, farmers managed to achieve 20 kg of fresh milk productivity per cow per day with a lower number of microorganisms (TPC) than 100,000 cfu/ml.

Another sustainability initiative carried out by FFI is cow's impurity management. In collaboration with PT Jawa Power, FFI built a biogas unit facility to turn cow's waste into a renewable energy source.

This facility can reduce methane and CO2 gas emissions. By 2023, 25 breeders will receive this facility, which will reduce 75,000 kg of equivalent CO2 per year.

In June 2024, FFI and PT Jawa Power added 50 biogas unit facilities, including the Setia Kawan Cooperative in Pasuruan, East Java. This biogas unit not only provides alternative energy to cook to replace LPG gas, but also produces organic fertilizer from dry grounds of cow droppings.

In addition to focusing on sustainability, FFI is also committed to improving the nutritional status of Indonesian families through quality milk products and nutrition literacy education.

One of his initiatives is the 'Nusantara Movement', which has reached more than 5,000 elementary schools, 2.5 million students, and 8,000 teachers. Other programs, the 'Healthy School Movement', involve 148 teachers and 10,000 students in Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and Malang.

To support the health of Indonesian children, FFI launched a FRISIAN FLAG product called Nutribrain Omega which supports the development of the child's brain with 8 vitamins, 3 minerals, and Omega 3 and 6.

Study SEANUTS II yang kami lakukan menunjukkan pentingnya konsumsi ikrasi pada sarapan bagi anak-anak Indonesia. Studi ini menemukan bahwa konsumsi milk dapat meningkatkan asuman harian Vitamin D hingga 4,4 kali lipat dan Kalimium hingga 2,6 kali lipat, ujar Andrew, perwakilan dari FFI.

This study, which involved academics and nutritionists, revealed that children in Indonesia still lack Calcium (78%) and Vitamin D (92%), two nutrients are important for child growth and development.