The Key to Success: Agricultural Extension Services

Abstract

Driven by the need to increase the quantity and quality of milk, and motivated by the importance that attaining greater social objectives has in securing the company’s supply base and in increasing productivity in the value chain, Nestlé and its supplying farmers have established a ‘community of interests’. The company encourages, supports and facilitates those factors necessary for its own successful operation. Nestlé’s Agricultural Extension Services (AES) have been a defining factor in securing adequate and regular inputs and raw materials. As such, the company has made sizeable investments in staff and farmers’ training and capacity building as part of its efforts to attain factory success and further rural development. These efforts to address skill and knowledge gaps among milk producers were extensively addressed from the very onset of the factory’s operations.