4
News BALADNA TO EXPORT DAIRY BUSINESS MODEL TO MALAYSIA Baladna Q.P.S.C. (“Baladna” or the “Company”), Qatar’s largest dairy and beverage producer, has signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (‘MoC’) to produce fresh dairy products in Malaysia. The MoC agreed with Malaysia’s state-owned FELCRA Berhad (‘FELCRA’) and agriculture giant FGV Holdings (‘FGV’) aims to produce 100 million litres of fresh milk within the first full year of operation, pending the satisfactory completion of a feasibility study. The MoC is a key step forward in Baladna’s international expansion plans, which include replicating the company’s achievement in shifting Qatar from milk import dependency to self-sufficiency
during the regional diplomatic crisis. Baladna will jointly invest in an integrated dairy farm in the town of Chuping in Perlis, which borders Thailand and is Malaysia’s smallest state. The initial focus is to establish a dairy herd of 10,000 high yielding milking cows. The parties aim to reduce Malaysia’s reliance on milk and dairy imports and to support local communities. Other potential areas include utilising Malaysian agricultural land to produce most of the required animal feed for dairy farming, as well as using the joint venture farm as a hub that supports small rural farms
in developing small cattle fatting farms and animal feed farms by 2024. Moutaz Al-Khayyat, Baladna Group Chairman, said: “We are proud to partner with FELCRA and FGV to transfer Baladna’s know-how and business model. This will ensure that Malaysia’s fundamental nutritional needs are no longer majority dependent on imports. With the support of our shareholders, we are increasingly transitioning into a truly international company. We look forward to sharing Baladna’s experience and growing our footprint in Southeast Asia as part of our international expansion plans.”
ALLER TOP – A COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE FEED FOR CARP
To optimise production and reduce farming costs, Aller Aqua have developed ALLER TOP. The feed is suited for carp-farming when costs should be kept low, and for feeding during colder months where the carp naturally eat less. ALLER TOP has been developed and tested together with carp farmers, offering them an option
LIVESTOCK & POULTRY ME
to improve economic output whilst maintaining performance. ALLER TOP contains 25% protein and 7% fat and ranges from 3 mm to 8 mm in pellet size. Feeding trials with ALLER TOP at Aller Aqua Research have shown excellent growth and feed conversion ratios and good water stability. These competitive results
have been confirmed in a trial at an independent Polish Research institute. ALLER TOP has also become popular with anglers, based on its low oil content, which means that the pellet easily sucks up flavours to create a tailor-made pellet for carp fishing. Carp in traditional ponds can be farmed on either supplementary feed like grains, or on extruded commercial feed to achieve higher production yield. The optimal feeding strategy and choice of extruded feed depend on the production goals of the farm, the seasonal changes and the natural productivity of the pond.
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2021
