PRAN Dairy Limited and US-based international organization ACDI/VOCA have signed an agreement to strengthen dairy development in the Southern part of the country.  The deal was signed to help the dairy sector in the Southern districts under the USAID-funded ‘Feed the Future Bangladesh Nutrition program’ run by ACDI/VOCA.  PRAN Group Managing Director Eleash Mridha and Chief of Party of the project Muhammad Nurul Amin Siddiquee signed the deal at PRAN Dairy's head office in the capital on Thursday, the company said in a statement.   Read: PRAN-RFL targets $2 billion export by 2030 It said PRAN Dairy will work on a variety of activities under the agreement including assisting farmers to increase milk production and milk procurement, providing dairy producers with farm management training, supplying milk in the formal market and promoting safe milk production and consumption in Southern Bangladesh.   The activities will be conducted in several districts including Jashore, Khulna, Kushtia, Narail, Satkhira, Faridpur, Barishal, Pirojpur and Jhalakathi.   ACDI/VOCA will help PRAN Dairy through financing and guidelines.    Read Upay, Pran-RFL sign agreement on salary disbursement, merchant payment

Bangladesh bank (BB) has extended the loan repayment time to December 2024 for the milk production loans scheme. As a result the farmers, who borrowed for cows and calves farms at 4 percent interest rate under the loans scheme of enhancing milk production, can repay the loans by December 31, 2024. The Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) of BB issued a circular in this regard and sent it to the top executives of all the scheduled banks. Read: BB extends relaxed loan repayment until Sept 30 The BB notification stated that the loan term of the milk production scheme has been extended till December 31, 2024. The repayment of loans refinanced by the banks from Bangladesh Bank against the disbursed loans and payment of interest subsidy to the banks has also been extended. The other directions of the circular regarding the scheme issued earlier will remain unchanged. The facility provided by BB, farmers involved in milk production and artificial insemination can now take loans from banks and specialized financial institutions for the purchase and rearing of cows and calves at 4 percent interest. Read BB asks banks to provide special agri credit in flood-hit districts This loan can be taken in single and joint names. A loan of Tk 40,000 can be taken for the purchase of a calf and Tk10,000 for rearing. As a result, a farmer can borrow a maximum of Tk2.0 lakh for a maximum of four calves. This loan is completely collateral free. In order to make the country self-sufficient in milk, The BB formed a fund of Tk 200 crore refinancing program in 2015.

The country's milk demand has increased over the last decade, and currently, the total demand for milk is around 152.02 lakh tons annually. The good thing is that the country's milk production has also been increased by three times over the past decade and now has the capacity to fulfill two-thirds of the total demand. However, 10% of the total production goes to local milk brands, and the rest of the 90% has to be sold immediately. Right now, 14 registered companies produce and supply dairy, milk, and pasteurized products to the market. Among them, Milk Vita, Aarong, and Pran have been holding 80% of the market share. Besides, there are few other companies who are trying to become the market leader. In this context, let's discuss the best Bangladeshi Milk and Dairy Companies, Brands. Top Milk and Dairy Companies, Brands in Bangladesh Milk Vita Bangladesh Milk Producers' Cooperative Limited owns Milk Vita, which is a cooperative society run by the government of Bangladesh. The company's main goal is to improve the socio-economic condition of small, marginal, and landless dairy farmers in Bangladesh through the production, processing, and marketing of dairy and dairy products. Established in 1973, it is currently holding 70% of the market share. Its main product is liquid milk, which is sold under the name "Milk Vita". In addition to liquid milk, the company also sells ghee, butter, ice cream, sweet yogurt, sour yogurt, cream, chocolate, and cloves. Also Read: Passive Income Ideas in Bangladesh in 2021 Aarong Dairy Aarong dairy products are sold under the BRAC Dairy, which started their operation in 1998. The aim of the company was to start an income generation sector for rural dairy farmers. Usually, the demand for milk in the villages was low, and farmers did not have any means to preserve the milk for a long time. As a result, they had to dump the extra milk or had to sell it at a lower price. BRAC Dairy came forward to resolve this and provide a fair price to the dairy farmers and meet the demand in the urban areas. Besides liquid milk, Aarong Dairy also sells powder milk, flavored drinks, yogurt, yogurt drink, butter, ghee, cheese, and sweets. Read Best Water Filter price in Bangladesh with Buying Tips PRAN Dairy Ltd PRAN Dairy is a sister concern of PRAN Group, which is claimed to be the second-largest dairy products processor in Bangladesh. They have several states of the art UHT, pasteurized yogurt, and powder processing plant. PRAN has seven different product lines under their dairy products including, butter, cheese, milk, ghee, powder milk, value-added milk, and yogurt. Although, there have been controversies about the quality of PRAN Dairy products. But it seems they have overcome all the drawbacks as they are exporting their goods to several countries. Read Top Biscuit and Bakery Companies, Brands in Bangladesh Farm Fresh Milk Farm Fresh Milk is the dairy products wing of Akij Food and Beverage Limited. They usually collect the milk from rural farms and sell it to the market after processing through several steps. Farm Fresh ensures quality through the required microbiological and adulteration tests in its own laboratory when collecting milk directly from farmers. Furthermore, after cooling the milk in a state-of-the-art manner at its own chilling center, the farm transports it to its own tanker at a controlled temperature and brings it to the Fresh Fresh factory. Besides milk, Farm Fresh also sells yogurt, butter, ghee, chocolate milk, and other dairy related products. Also Read: Small Business Ideas for F-commerce Startups in Bangladesh during Pandemic Aftab Milk Aftab Milk and Milk Products Limited offer pasteurized milk through its modern Danish automatic milk pasteurization plant. The plant can process and pack 1,500ltr/hr. Besides, the company also provides technical expertise and support to the farmers to bring out quality products and improve milk production. However, Aftab Milk is relatively new in the industry, and they have a long way to go. Aftab Milk only offers pasteurized milk, ghee, and yogurt in their product line.  Danish Dairy Farm Ltd (Ayran) Danish from Partex Group is widely popular for its condensed milk, which is one of the top brands in Bangladesh. However, recently, they launched a new brand named Ayran to offer more dairy goods to the local market. They used to sell full cream milk powder and condensed milk under Danish. But with the newly added brand Ayran, Danish Dairy Farm Ltd will sell pasteurized milk and yogurt. Apparently, other products will be introduced soon as the demand for dairy goods has been increasing. Igloo Dairy Limited Igloo started its operation in the dairy industry on August 31, 2004, with the aim to offer pasteurized milk to the local market and increase their ice-cream production capacity. Igloo has found that the per capita milk consumption has been increased in Bangladesh. In this context, Igloo Dairy set up a plant to produce 14,000 liters per day from the initial 5,000 liters. They envisioned producing cheese, skimmed milk powder, UHT, FCMP, functional milk, and butter in international standards. Currently, Igloo Dairy offers pasteurized milk, mango milk, chocolate milk, sweet curd, sour curd, ghee, and a dairy chocolate bar. Also Read: Best Credit Cards in Bangladesh: A Comparative Analysis American Dairy Limited (MOO) American Dairy Limited started its operation in 2010 with a limited number of cattle. Over the past ten years, they have improved their farm's production and launched pasteurized milk, yogurt, sweet yogurt, sour yogurt, ghee, and full cream milk powder. Although the MOO products are not widely used, they are growing as a company. Besides the dairy products, they have other cattle farm-related products. Apart from these top milk and dairy companies in Bangladesh, there are nine companies that supply milk power to the markets. The nine companies are New Zealand Dairy (Diploma), Meghna Group (Fresh), Arla Food (Dano), Partex Group (Danish), Nestle Bangladesh (Nido), Pran Dairy Brac Dairy (Aarong), Abul Khair Group (Marks), and Milk Vita.  Read Top FMCG Companies in Bangladesh: At a Glance

A fleet of mobile stalls under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock are selling fish, meat, egg and dairy products during the lockdown to mitigate the loss of farmers. Livestock and dairy products worth around Tk 133.21 crore have been sold since April 5. The production, transportation, supply and marketing of this campaign is being monitored by Minister SM Rezaul Karim himself. Read Lockdown: Sirajganj dairy farmers in trouble again Even during this crisis, the Ministry and officials and employees of the Department of Fisheries and Livestock are carrying out mobile sales activities in the public interest at the risk of their lives, he said. He noted that the dairy associations, poultry associations, fishermen's associations and marginal farmers associated with this sector are continuing this activity braving the risk. Read Govt forming policy to safeguard poultry, dairy industries "The farmers in the fisheries and livestock sector are able to easily overcome the losses by marketing the products produced at a fair price. On the other hand, thanks to this initiative, consumers can easily buy fish, meat, milk, eggs and dairy products even under the current restrictions, " he added. He made these remarks in a briefing arranged to thank the officials involved with the campaign. Read Railway launches luggage van to transport vegetables

The dairy farmers of Shahjadpur upazila in Sirajganj district have run into trouble again as the ongoing lockdown has choked the sales of milk they produce. Shahjadpur upazila produces some 20.50 lakh litres of milk a day, but now thousands of litres of milk are wasted due to drop in its sales and lack of storage facilities, the farmers alleged.  As the demand for milk in the open market is declining due to the closure of sweetshops, tea stalls and lack of people at haats and bazaars, farmers are counting huge losses. Visiting different areas of the upazila, the UNB correspondent found many of the farmers staging protests by dumping milk on the streets. Many farmers were also seen roaming at local markets to sell off cows as no option is left for them. Also read: Jashore dairy farmers count losses as demand falls According to Sirajganj District Livestock office, a milk-processing factory was set up in 1983 in Sirajganj by Milk Vita, a cooperative state-owned enterprise.  And then the upazila saw the mushrooming of cattle farms within years.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim on Wednesday said that the government is formulating a policy to safeguard the poultry and dairy industries of the country.