Malaysia’s Minister for Agriculture visits Denmark

Ending on 23 September, Malaysia’s Minister for Agriculture & Agro-based Industries, Dato’ Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, visited Denmark to meet his Danish counterpart Minister Esben Lunde Larsen and sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agricultural cooperation with a focus on livestock and aquaculture. Minister Shabery’s trip to Denmark is a follow-up to the visit in April by Minister Larsen to Malaysia.

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Aarhus was the first stop on Minister Shabery’s tour, where he visited the HQs of the Danish dairy cooperative giant, Arla Foods, as well as a modern dairy and a high-optimised cattle farm. These visits introduced Minister Shabery and his delegation to the Danish concept of thinking ‘Fom Farm to Fork’ in dairy production.

In Copenhagen the Malaysian Minister also visited State of Green (public-private partnership founded by the Danish Government in partnership with, among others, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council). Danish ambassador to Malaysia, Nicolai Ruge, also accompanied the minister.

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State of Green is a public-private partnership founded by the Danish Government in partnership with, among others, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, which gathers all leading players in the fields of energy, climate, water and environment. Subjects discussed were environmental friendly solutions, handling wastewater from dairies and how to handle wastewater discharges.

Development on modern dairy production is a major priority of the Malaysian Government’. At the moment, nearly all dairy products in Malaysia are imported and the demand for fresh milk, yoghurt and cheese continues to rise by 5-10 per cent annually. The visit to a Danish dairy farm focused on the production and handling of milk and genetic material development.

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The Minister met the 3rd and 4th generation owners of Vejlskovgaard Mælkeri, father and son, Hans Jacob Fenger and Claus Fenger. Vejlskovgaard Farm was build in 1868 and has 420 cows and 250 hectares of land under cultivation. In 2012, the farm expanded and became the farm of the future with highly modernised production facilities and use of intelligent information systems.

The Minister was particularly interested in the Danish experience with farming cooperatives and how to optimise milk production.

Soure: Embassy of Denmark in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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About Joakim Persson

Freelance business and lifestyle photojournalist

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