The Secretary of State for Agriculture and Fisheries of Santa Catarina, Airton Spies, assumed on Monday (12) the coordination of the South Brazilian Milk Alliance, an entity created with the objective of strengthening the milk production chain of the South region.
Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul join forces in the Milky Alliance to develop the production chain and expand markets for milk produced in the region. “By 2020, half the Brazilian milk will be produced in the South. The region’s milk needs to become an industrial product, otherwise we will drown in milk,” says Airton Spies.
According to the secretary of Santa Catarina, the three states should be inspired by major exporters such as New Zealand, Argentina and Uruguay, which already supply the international market. The members of the Milky Alliance believe that the southern region of Brazil is capable of producing the most competitive milk in the world, but for this the sector must undergo a great transformation. Mainly, in the logistics organization of the production chain, in the improvement of quality and in the reduction of production costs.
“The challenges are very clear and go through improvements in technology, herd health and logistic organization of the production chain. We have a medium- and long-term strategy and we already have excellent examples to follow, right here in the state, to make milk competitive in the international market. We have to do with milk what we have already done with consolidated production chains such as swine farming, poultry farming and tobacco, “says Spies.
China
Back from a business mission in China, the Secretary of Agriculture and Fisheries, Airton Spies, believes that the Asian country can be the major destination for milk produced in the South. With 1.3 billion people and a food consumption that increases 11% a year, China is a promising market for the dairy industry.
“The Chinese consume few dairy products still, about six times less than Brazil. But this is a booming market and we can not stay out of this giant market, “Spies says. Today the major milk suppliers to China are Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Sanity
One of the concerns of the Milky Alliance – and a key factor in making milk competitive in the international market – is the sanity of the herds. Controlling diseases such as tuberculosis and brucellosis is one of the major challenges for the three southern states.
“Sanity will not only open markets for milk, but without sanity our product will not go anywhere. It is essential to have a control of the diseases “, emphasizes the director-president of the Agricultural Defense Agency of Paraná (Adapar), Inácio Kroetz.
Free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, Santa Catarina already has the lowest incidence of tuberculosis and brucellosis in the country and is now on the way to eradicating diseases. In the state, the animals affected by brucellosis or tuberculosis are slaughtered sanitarily and the owners compensated by the Secretary of Agriculture, through the State Fund of Animal Health (Fundesa).
Milk in the South
The three southern states produced 12.8 billion liters of milk in 2017 – 38% of the total produced in the country. And expectations are that by 2020 the region will produce more than half of all Brazilian milk.
The region formed by the Southwest of Paraná, Catarinense West and Northwest of Rio Grande do Sul can be called the “New Mecca” of milk in Brazil since it has the highest growth in production and it is also where the dairy industries have made the largest investments in the last 10 years.
In Santa Catarina, milk is already the fastest growing agricultural activity. Involving 45 thousand producers throughout the state, production turned in around 3.4 billion liters in 2017 – an increase of 8% over the previous year. The numbers consolidated the state as the country’s fourth largest milk producer.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.