THE $150 million Amaya Milk Plant in Region Five has begun the production of paneer, as the facility awaits the importation of its main pasteurising plant for milk bottling production to commence, founder, Omkaar Sharma said.

“There is a delay with the pasteuriser and the building is basically ready and so we decided in the interim to start paneer. We just did a batch of paneer, yesterday we did our first batch, today we did our second batch,” Sharma told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday.

With the production of paneer, livestock farmers in the region have already begun cashing in, with the company purchasing 600 gallons of milk daily.

“There is going to be tremendous economic benefit to the dairy farmers in Region Five because, we will be buying 600 gallons of milk per day… when you calculate that, it’s $800 a gallon and that’s $480,000 per day times 30 days, that’s $14 million going back into the local economy,” Sharma explained.

Once fully operational, it is anticipated that farmers could earn up to $75 million monthly.

“When you look at that, it’s a significant amount of money that is bei

ng put back into the community and not just the farmers will get that, there is the spinoff effects,” Sharma said.

In April of last year, the path was cleared for the company to establish its local base, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) among Amaya Milk Company, the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Once the facility is completed, Guyanese will see milk sold in returnable glass bottles, which will help minimise adverse environmental impacts and encourage recycling.

Sharma had previously said that the project will be rolled out in two phases, with the first phase focusing specifically on milk production. For this phase, the company has budgeted CAN$500,000.

During the initial stage of the project, the company will be producing whole and two per cent milk, after which they will make flavoured milk, specifically strawberry and chocolate, among other unique flavours.

Once the first phase has been completed and the market is responsive, the company, in about two years, will move ahead with phase two of the project, for which CAN$1 million has been budgeted.

The company plans to eventually expand its production to include yogurt, cheese, and cream. As local dairy production increases, regional markets will be targeted.

The facility will not just create direct jobs, but will also allow local cattle farmers to sell their products and even increase their production to satisfy the demand.