On April 25, 2018, Fert organized with the BTPL and the FNPL a conference on the actions carried out jointly by Fert and the BTPL to support the development of the dairy sector in 3 countries:

1- In Brazil

Fert, Ircod Alsace and the BTPL have accompanied the development of the dairy sector in the South-West of the State of Paraná from 1991 to 2011 by promoting the emergence, consolidation and development, until its autonomy, of a professional organization of technical and economic services to dairy farmers: Unileite.

This Franco-Brazilian cooperation was based on numerous missions of Alsatian actors in Paranà and the reception of Brazilian breeders and technicians in France.

The links continue beyond the cooperation action; thus, Eduardo Kehrig, Unileite veterinarian, carried out in April 2018 a 3-week training course in Alsace organized by the BTPL. Together with Marc Wittersheim, deputy director of the BTPL, he presented the various services offered by Unileite to breeders and the functioning of the association.

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2- In Madagascar

Fert has accompanied the national agricultural organisation Fifata since its creation in 1989, as well as a number of specialised organisations or services linked to Fifata, i.e. more than 200,000 family farms. Rova, member of Fifata, is a union of dairy cooperatives in the Vakinankaratra region supported by Fert since 2001 and the BTPL since 2009.

Stéphane Sagorin, a BTPL engineer who had carried out several missions with Rova, presented the different stages of the partnership: organisational and technical support, setting up a “gasy” milk recording system, technical and economic approach to milk.

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3- In Georgia

Since 2011 Fert has been supporting the GBDC, an agricultural development organisation, in the Lesser Caucasus region. After an initial phase that led to the creation of the Ertoba breeders’ association, the action now aims to professionalise services for breeders. To achieve this, Fert relies on the skills of a Savencia Fromage & Dairy engineer as part of a skills patronage program and, since 2017, on a partnership with the BTPL.

Anne Panel, director of Fert, presented the encouraging results of this action: +15% average production per dairy cow.

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The conference was introduced by Martial Marguet, president of the Institut de l’Elevage, vice-president of the FNPL and administrator of Fert. It was moderated by Hervé Morainville, director of the BTPL, and closed by Daniel Perrin, vice-president of the FNPL.

All three stressed the interest of such an event highlighting the sharing of know-how between French and foreign professional organisations, the universal values of cooperation and mutualism, the excellent work of an agri-agency such as Fert, hailing from the agricultural profession, whose skills it knows how to mobilise to accompany, in the long term and continuity, agricultural organisations in developing and emerging countries, up to their autonomy.

Professionals from different dairy organisations (FNPL, CNIEL, Institut de l’Elevage, Savencia, Coop de France métiers du lait…) and representatives of Fert partner organisations (AFD, Inter-réseaux développement rural…) attended this morning of exchange.