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Dairy
While
population growth has been stable for half a century in the developed economies,
population has more than doubled in the developing world and thus in the world
in general. The consumption of dairy products - milk, milk drink and fresh
products, butter, cheese, milk powder and others - is growing even faster
than the increase in world population. Rising affluence, particularly in the
developing countries where average real incomes have doubled since the early
60's, means that more people can afford the high-value protein that dairy
products offer. For 2004, according to FAO, cow and buffalo milk production
reached 516 million tonnes, just about the same as in 2003 and 1% more than
in 2002.
The world's cattle population provides a wide array of services to the human, including production of milk and dairy products but also production of meat and provision of labour, and many other services. The continuous growth of the dairy sector therefore generates tremendous opportunities to the world's population. If it is well managed, the sector has the potential to continue sustain and improve the livelihoods of millions of families.
In order to ensure the positive development of the dairy sector however, a number of challenges lie ahead, which SAI Platform's Working Group on Dairy aims at helping facing. These include: maintaining food safety and quality of dairy products; improving dairy farms' economic viability and social progress; and increasing environmental protection and animal welfare.
SAI Platform's Working Group on Dairy held its first meeting on October 9, 2003 to agree on an overall approach and methodolgy. Participants agreed to focus on cow and buffalo milk production. A set of documents was drafted and discussed at the Working Group's following meetings. A Mission Statement on Sustainable Dairy Production was then released. Draft Sustainable Dairy Principles and Practices were developed internally on the basis of the International Dairy Federation (IDF) and FAO "Guide to good dairy farming practice". A first consultation was held with producer representatives in November 2004, which led to a revision of the Principles and Practices. The latest version of the Principles and Practices is now available.
In parallel, pilot projects are now in the process of being launched in several countries to test and improve the Working Group's approach and related documents, as well as to identify indicators of progress towards sustainability. Further information on these projects will be made available later this year.
Campina, Fonterra, Friesland Foods, Groupe Danone, Kraft, McDonald’s, Nestlé and Unilever are SAI Platform's active members of the Working Group on Dairy. Werner Buck, Friesland Foods, is the Working Group's Chairman.
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