A NEW partnership between India’s Parag Milk Foods and TAFE SA will put the South East dairy sector on the world stage with an international visit later this year.
Trainers from India’s largest private dairy farm Bhagyalakshmi in Manchar will travel to the region to learn about competency-based delivery techniques from TAFE SA lecturers and receive a certification to train associated dairy farmers back in India.
TAFE SA director of primary industries, animal and laboratory sciences Ann Beacham said TAFE SA had extensive experience in providing primary production, animal welfare and livestock management training both nationally and internationally.
“TAFE SA’s dairy and agriculture lecturers are world class – they have many years of experience in industry, as well as established support networks of industry specialists,” Ms Beacham said.
“The dairy team is committed to helping Parag Milk Foods build workforce capability through encouraging individuals to further their farming careers and advance themselves through education and professional development.”
TAFE SA staff visited Parag Milk Foods and the Bhagyalakshmi Dairy Farm in 2016.
In addition, they attended the Global Rajasthan Agricultural Meet, providing greater understanding of the challenges facing the agriculture and dairy sectors of Manchar and Rajasthan.
Mount Gambier TAFE SA dairy and agriculture lecturer Mark Thompson said he was excited to showcase the region in the international spotlight.
“The South East is probably the most progressive dairy region in South Australia, if not the whole of Australia,” he said.
“The program will be a great way to show how our dairies operate and teach others how to increase their production.”
Although India is the biggest producer of milk in the world, its production capabilities are much lower than those in the South East.
“The idea is to teach them our basic structures like growing good pastures and giving the cows full access to food and water so they are then able to produce more milk,” Mr Thompson said.
“They will then go back to their dairy and implement these ideas and build their business even further.”
Working in the dairy industry for the majority of his life and as a TAFE SA lecturer for over 12 years, Mr Thompson said well educated staff was the key to the South East’s success.
“As the South East has many large dairies, staff must be highly skilled to keep up with the huge demand,” Mr Thompson said.
“Here at Donovans Dairying Co there are over 2000 cows milked twice a day, so without proper training and education their staff would struggle to keep up.
“TAFE SA has a great symbiotic relationship with dairies in the South East who lend their time and farms to help train our students who will then go on to become skilled industry workers.”
With the budding link between Mount Gambier City Council and China, Mr Thompson believes the program with India is just the beginning.
“We now have the knowledge of what the South East is capable of out in the world,” he said.
“It seems like it would only be a matter of time before we initiate similar programs with emerging dairy nations like China.”
