The Qatari agricultural company has teamed up with Malaysian firms to expand to rural areas and increase production of dairy products. 

Baladna, Qatar’s largest dairy and beverage producer, signed an agreement to produce dairy products in Malaysia, the company confirmed on Monday.

The Qatari company agreed with Malaysia’s state-owned FELCRA Berhad (FELCRA) and agriculture giant FGV Holdings (FGV) to produce 100 million litres of milk per year, pending the satisfactory completion of a feasibility study.

This comes as Baladna continues to grow and expand nationally and internationally, after a regional diplomatic crisis shifted the country’s vision and objectives from being an importer of food products to a growing exporter.

The companies said they plan to co-invest in an integrated dairy farm in a town in Malaysia’s smallest state Chuping, Perlis. The project is set to support the local community and raise awareness on food security as Malaysia relies mainly on milk and dairy imports.

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The goal is to create a dairy herd of 10,000 high yielding milking cows, double the current production of Malaysian fresh milk within two years, use agricultural land to produce some of the most required animal feed for dairy farming and utilise the joint venture farm to support small rural farms through enabling them to build cattle fatting and animal feed farms by 2024.

Felcra said the agreement will also consider establishing an industrial farm and start dairy production, producing two million litres of milk on a weekly basis.

Felcra is owned by the minister of finance with the objective to develop rural areas through supporting its community in a bid to enhance the economy and improve their livelihood.