September 13, 2011

Australia, Netherlands to help Sri Lanka's dairy industry

Australia and Netherlands is set to help Sri Lanka to kick-start its exhausted dairy industry after importing 4,500 cows and investing over US$12 million caused by the three decade war.

The Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank (Rabobank) of Netherlands and the Export Finance Insurance Corporation (EFIC) of Australia have agreed to provide a loan worth US$10.5 million for implementation of phase one of the project.

The total cost of the project is US$12.9 million for phase one of which 81% of the project cost will be covered from the Rabobank and EFIC financing. The balance 19% of the project cost amounting to US$2.4 million will be provided by the Rabobank of Netherlands.

The arrangements have been made to increase the milk production of Sri Lanka by importing 4,500 dairy animals from Australia and develop farms belonging to National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) at three locations in the country.