The last one week I traveled to meet our milk producer farmers and collection agents in the villages in Ahmednagar & Pune districts in Maharashtra. After about a year, we had very productive in-person meetings with our dairy farmers, milk collection facilitators, our field supervisors, area managers, veterinary doctors and agro-service associates. We checked on each other, exchanged warm smiles, clicked some pictures for posterity, while not forgetting the masks, distancing and hand-sanitization. I was reminded once again, how formidable a team we are when together.
I heard people’s problems, took some questions, gave some answers and very importantly explained our vision, mission and purpose to our people for the days to come. There are many changes in how we operate post COVID, but the basics remain the same. Milk collection remains at the core of dairying.
People, customers & community
There were some questions on our efforts in 2020, particularly during the months of severe lockdown. Could we have done better? Milk prices nose-dived in the face of falling demand, could we have paid more to the farmers? Did we discharge our responsibilities well?
Make no mistake, as an organization we showed tremendous commitment to our people; our customers and the community. Our people include our employees, our associates, our farmers, other suppliers, trade channels et al. While the whole world plunged into crises, businesses shrunk, jobs were lost, not a single one of our people were inconvenienced. All salaries and payments were made on time. Moreover, there were incentives for those who were needed at the workplace, relaxed WFH for others, a historic wage settlement was done during this period and all possible support extended to our workforce and their families.
All customer commitments were met, sometimes even at the cost of our own profitability. We made sure our customers did not go out of business for want of supplies, as they too have responsibilities towards their stakeholders.
We took care of the community to the best of our abilities, as a responsible corporate citizen. From reaching out to the needy around us to extending a helping hand to the frontline workers to contributions to PM Cares and state funds, we did express our solidarity to all who were in need in this very difficult time.
During the most troubling days, while our business was suffering, we paid market price to our farmers. Yes, it could have been less or more in some cases, than a few others, but we do not have the luxury of “buying dear and selling cheap”. We did not have any Govt. subsidies like some others and we had larger responsibilities to our people than most others. We did manage to balance all fronts deftly, against all odds. We looked after all our stakeholders from the farmer to the consumer.
Way forward on milk procurement from farmers
Now, as soon as we see welcome signs of COVID receding, markets opening up, demand rising we take lead in correcting procurement prices. This benefits our farmers. But it is not limited to our farmers alone. Going by Adam Smith’s theory of the ‘invisible hand’, the market corrects itself and some competitors are able to offer competitive prices too. So be it – it becomes beneficial to all dairy farmers in general. But who takes the lead? The world leader in the business, who else? I assure all my people; we will continue to lead. We will continue to be responsible to our people, customers and the community for all times to come.
Do we need more milk? Yes, we do. We have invested in our infrastructure to take more milk, benefit more milk producers, create more employment and serve more customers. But what is in it for the farmer to partner with us? We are their market and we are here to stay. Rewards of associating with the largest dairy company in the world are not too few:
a) Leaders in pricing
b) Transparency in testing
c) Payments sharp on time
d) Diwali bonus
e) Best in class Agro-Services
f) Farmer helpline & trainings
g) Financial assistance to buy cattle
I will end by twisting a quote by David Packard, co-founder of the IT giant Hewlett Packard; “milk procurement is too important to be left with milk procurement department alone”. No matter how much of press and social media campaign I do, no matter how much the milk procurement teams reach out, if all our people do not understand our vision, if all of us do not value the contribution of the dairy farmer to the economy, nothing will be achieved. I want each one of you to know & spread the message that Lactalis will lead in providing the best value to the farmer and maximum happiness to our consumers. When farmers prosper, India becomes self-reliant.
