– Can produce 2000 litres of pasteurised milk per day
– To expand into cheese, yogurt and butter production

A CANADIAN company has signalled its interest in the establishment of a state-of-the-art milking facility in the Mahaica/Berbice area while aiming to expand into cheese, yogurt and butter production, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has confirmed.

The company is known for its work in the Caribbean and the United States and will soon be registering here under the name, ‘Mahaica Mill Company.’
During a recent meeting with officials of the company, Minister Mustapha said that it was recognised that the company has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in what it takes to build and manage a modern dairy operation.

He told the Guyana Chronicle that the company works at every step of the process, from site development to physical installation, milk collection, processing and marketing.
The company, Minister Mustapha said, has indicated that it will be working with farmers directly to help them achieve increased production by providing the advice and equipment needed to help them feed and milk more efficiently.

This, he said, will be a significant boost for local farmers since they have been lacking such technologies and facilities.
“The Ministry of Agriculture indeed takes pride to welcome such investments and encourages our local farmers to take full advantage of this kind of facility,” the Agriculture Minister told this newspaper.

The company, he explained, has informed the ministry that they will establish a system that will be pasteurising the milk using the High Temperature Short Time (HTST) method, as milk pasteurised this way will retain all of its nutrients and remain fresh and wholesome.

“This is great news since majority of the milk that we import are reconstituted milk. The company has the expertise to work with local dairy farmers to grow their herds, using methods that have been proven effective in Canada and the US,” Minister Zulfikar noted.

Underscoring that this enables them to meet the demand for milk and milk products, the minister said the company is also aiming to achieve an output of about 2,000 litres of pasteurised milk per day, which will be bottled in glass bottles (for return) for distribution.

“This will see Guyanese gaining full-time employment at the facility as well as local cattle farmers within Regions Five and Six gaining meaningful employment. At full capacity, the company will be paying out more than $25M per month to local cattle farmers who [will be supplying the facility,” the Agriculture Minister noted.
The Canadian company, he said, highlighted that once a solid market for fresh milk has been established, the next step is to expand into cheese, yogurt and butter production for the local and export markets.