S Asia case studies 2006

A case study of milk production and marketing by small and medium scale contract farmers of Haleeb Foods Ltd., Pakistan. By Dr. Tanvir Ali, Director, Advanced Studies, University of Agriculture Faisalabad - Pakistan.

Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer in the world. About a third of the total milk produced by the rural families flows out to urban consumers and processing industries. In urban areas milk is available to common consumers in two ways: loose / unprocessed milk and packed/ processed milk. Dairy companies such as Nestle and Haleeb are the main part of milk marketing structure. Haleeb Foods Limited (HFL) as local company, which developed from a small structure. 

The main characteristic of the marketing innovation of HFL was the exclusion of big milk contractors from the supply chain in the late 1990s. The big contractors were used to blackmail the company on one hand the small-scale milk producers on the other. It was reported in the field survey that the company had to face crises due to this blackmailing behavior of the big contractors. Therefore, the company decided to exclude the big contractors and started a policy of self-milk collection. This strategy saved the company from crises by ensuring sustainable involvement of small milk producers in the market chain.

INNOVATIVE PRACTICE IN INTEGRATING SMALL FARMERS IN TO DYNAMIC SUPPLY CHAINS: A CASE STUDY ON MA'S TROPICAL FOOD COMPANY. INSTITUTE OF POLICY STUDIES OF SRI LANKA. JULY 2006

The impact of modern and restructured markets has a number of repercussions on small scale spice producers who are unable to stay on with the emerging marketing trends. This situation has encouraged the need of a new innovative practices working with small holders in improving their ability to face restructured market conditions. MA'S Foods have introduced an innovation which is basically a "business model" change with limited "collective action strategies by farmers" that enables fulfilling these consumer demands while effectively integrating the farmers in the supply chain.