Kotmale aims to enhance leadership in dairy industry with new brand campaign

From left: Kotmale Holdings Chairman Imtiaz Wahid, Cargills (Ceylon) Deputy Chairman and CEO Ranjit Page, and Kotmale Holdings Managing Director Saranga Wijesundara officiate at the launch of the new brand campaign

Annually sources 68 m litres paying Rs. 13.2 b to  17,000 dairy farmers, majority of whom are small scale level

New brand campaign titled “Nourishing Our Nation” reinforces Kotmale’s commitment to consumers, farmers and environment

Kotmale Holdings PLC has unveiled a new brand campaign to enhance its leadership in the dairy industry amidst challenges.

Commanding a market share of over 25%, Kotmale sources 180,000 litres of fresh milk daily from over 17,000 smallholder dairy farmers. Annual sourcing is 68 million litres paying Rs. 13.2 billion to dairy farmers. At present, local dairy producers account for only 40% of the country’s milk requirement.

To reaffirm its commitment to uplifting rural communities, supporting sustainable dairy farming and delivering high quality dairy nutrition to households, Kotmale has unveiled its new brand campaign titled “Nourishing Our Nation.”

Cargills (Ceylon) PLC Deputy Chairman and CEO Ranjit Page, Kotmale Holdings Chairman Imtiaz Wahid and Managing Director Saranga Wijesundara officiated at the launch of the new brand campaign to the media.

It represents Kotmale’s enduring connection to the people and places that nourish the nation, while visually capturing the company’s mission of delivering trusted nutrition through local fresh milk.

Since its acquisition by Cargills (Ceylon) PLC in 2010, Kotmale has not only been fully integrated into the broader Cargills portfolio but also revitalised with Cargills’ philosophy of community-centric business development. This has helped expand Kotmale’s operations, modernising its infrastructure and strengthened its role as a catalyst for rural economic empowerment.

Kotmale operates three ISO-certified dairy processing facilities which have been upgraded with significant investments. During five years ending FY24, the company has invested over Rs. 2.3 billion in capacity expansion and farmer development initiatives. Kotmale was also first in the dairy industry to digitise its milk collection process through an automated system improving transparency, reducing waste and enhancing operational efficiency. It has 42 chilling centres countrywide and works with over 1,000 milk collection societies.

The product range of Kotmale includes fresh milk, yoghurts, varieties of cheese, butter, curd, UHT and pasteurised milk and dairy ice cream.

To address issues pertaining to the low productivity among local farmers, Kotmale in 2021 launched a five-year program with the objective of training 5,000 farmers. The program, known as the Dairy Enterprise Development Initiative (DEDI), was established to increase its milk collection to 80 million litres annually by the end of its five-year project timeline, and reduce the dollar drain from dairy imports by meeting full processing capacity. By promoting improved dairy technology and management practices among smallholder farmers, Kotmale hopes to empower them to increase milk production, quality, and profitability. Key measures undertaken by the DEDI program thus far include capacity building and skills development for dairy farmers, genetic upgrading of the dairy herds through the introduction of Artificial Insemination (AI) to farmers, establishment of a commercial scale good quality fodder and silage production unit to provide high quality feeding materials, individual farm assessment and farm planning to ensure optimum farm management practices, and the provision of financial assistance for dairy development.

These efforts have furthered Kotmale’s agenda to empower local dairy farmers and helped them withstand the challenges.

– Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe