June 04, Colombo: Nestlé Lanka hosted Nestlé’s dairy team from the Zone Asia, Oceania, and Africa (AOA) for a workshop aimed at developing a roadmap towards achieving a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 in line with the company’s sustainability ambition.

Spanning across a week, participants from over 10 countries underwent training on Nestlé’s latest Fresh Milk Sourcing Standard and engaged in fruitful discussion regarding regenerative agricultural practices. The team also visited several of Nestlé Lanka’s dairy value chain partners to share their expertise, helping local communities adopt global best practices.

“In line with our steadfast commitment towards developing Sri Lanka’s dairy industry, we consistently help our farmer network to build a livelihood that is both profitable and sustainable. As such, it gives us immense pleasure to have hosted a team of dairy experts from across Zone AOA to discuss global best practices in dairy farming that would help us in our journey towards net zero emissions, whilst also giving us the opportunity to further contribute towards the local dairy community” said Mr. Pierre-Emmanuel Morin, Director – Technical, Nestlé Lanka.

As one of Sri Lanka’s largest private sector collectors of fresh milk, Nestlé Lanka plays a significant role in helping develop the local dairy industry.

Supporting over 12,000 dairy farming families, the company supported its farmer network through the volatility of the past few years by consistently accepting their produce even beyond the company’s requirement, to ensure a sustainable livelihood amidst socio-economic challenges. By doing so, the ‘Good food, Good life’ company contributed Rs. 2.4 billion and Rs. 3.6 billion for the procurement of fresh milk in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Further, Nestlé Lanka’s Dairy Development Programme, which was initiated in the early 1980s, helps improve the quality and yield of local fresh milk, whilst also promoting good dairy farming practices.

Driven by its purpose of ‘unlocking the power of food to enhance quality of life for everyone, today and for generations to come’, Nestlé has nourished generations of Sri Lankan families with high quality food and beverages from early childhood to old age. Having started its operations in Sri Lanka in 1906, today, Nestlé has become an integral part of Sri Lankan lives.

The company manufactures over 90% of its products sold in Sri Lanka locally at their state-of-the-art factory in Kurunegala, employing strict safety and quality controls.