Vinamilk says its farms are built as “an ideal "resort" for dairy cows.”
The joint venture includes companies in Vietnam, Laos and Japan, and is aimed at forming an international standard organic-milk raw-material area for Vietnam and other regional Asian markets, and at the same time promote the development of the high-tech dairy industry in Laos.
Lao-Jagro was established in 2015, and is a joint stock company with investors from Laos and Japan. The main objective is to develop breeding farms and cultivate organic products of Japanese origin on the Xiangkhouang plateau in Laos.
In July 2018, Vinamilk acquired a 51% stake of Lao-Jagro, and announced the concept for the organic dairy farm complex project in Laos. The long-term goal is to develop a farm complex of 20,000ha with a herd of 100,000 cows, up from the initial 24,000 cows.
The farm will also include a dairy product manufacturing and processing factory.
Mai Kieu Lien, general director of Vinamilk said, "Recognizing the huge development potential of the project, Vinamilk and Lao-Jagro have planned strategies with long-term vision and very specific steps to develop the organic dairy cow "Resort" in Laos. As for Vinamilk, we will apply technology 4.0 and the most advanced machines and equipment of the livestock industry in the world here.
“At the same time, [we will] bring to the project a team of good and experienced experts of Vinamilk, together with excellent experts from Japan and developed countries in the world, to ensure the project is successfully implemented, thereby, developing the livestock industry and the dairy industry in Laos."
Future growth
Vinamilk said the location, Xiangkhouang plateau, has ideal conditions for dairy farming, especially for organic certification, as the terrain is flat, interspersed with low hills similar to New Zealand.
Phase 1 of the project has an initial investment of $120m, and the company said it expects completion by the end of 2020, as well as certification according to European and US organic standards.
The cost of the second phase of the project is expected to be $380m.
The total investment in Laos is part of Vinamilk's long-term strategy to develop raw milk material areas both domestically and abroad, and to increase the sources of organic fresh milk for Vinamilk's factories in central Vietnam.
Vinamilk is planning to put into operation another dairy farm complex in Cần Thơ, in southern Vietnam, with up to 22,000 cows, and also started construction of Quảng Ngãi Dairy Cow Farm in the east of the country, with a herd of 4,000.