Now Willie’s enters the local milk industry

CHIEF Executive Officer and Founder of Willie’s Ice Cream Limited Wilbur Balgobin said Tuesday Government has a major support role to play in the dairy industry in Trinidad and Tobago.

Balgobin made the comment during the launch of his latest business venture in the local dairy market, Dairy Fresh Ltd, at the Freeport Factory Outlet. Balgobin said this country needed to follow international communities because other countries considered their dairy industry critical to their development. Balgobin said the newly established project is designed to provide the nation with fresh pasteurised milk, flavoured milk drinks and yogurt using fresh cow’s milk from local farmers. He said the project has been in pilot mode for the last six months to ascertain efficiency and quality. He added that 18 new jobs were created during the pilot period. He said although they have gotten off to a good start, he expects some turbulent times ahead. He said in order to secure the viability of the dairy industry, the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, needed to pledge and fulfil its full support to the industry. He said there is urgent need for the provision of a much higher level of technical assistance and training to farmers so that they could become more productive and even more competitive.

Balgobin said rural employment would be created, as milk production primarily takes place in rural communities and this, he said, will lead to valuable forward linkages with processing companies and associated service industries. Balgobin also said a vibrant dairy sector will promote huge savings in foreign exchange. “In 2000, our importation bill for milk was $274 million. Imagine the savings even if we could cut that by 50 percent. “Imagine India some 30 years ago, with a population of one billion, was the world’s largest importer of milk. Today, they are the world’s third largest exporter of milk. We only have a population of 1.2 million people. If a nation like India, with the huge costs associated in creating such a turnaround, could accomplish this task, so can we. We have a per capita GDP over five  times greater than theirs,” he said.