This is not the first attempt but the government looks confident that it is the one which will work. It has just finalised a strategy to increase production of milk in Mauritius by 60%. The pilot-project will be in Nouvelle-Découverte. If it proves to be successful, it will establish six similar “milk villages” to facilitate milk production, collection and sale.

With such a project, led by the Food Agricultural Research Council (FARC), the state hopes production will go from 3.2 million litres a year to 5 million. At the moment, the local production of milk represents only “2% of Mauritian needs”. Even though this is far from the 120 million litres consumed, it will at least help to depend less on imports.

The main problem for the moment is that farmers use old methods that no longer match today’s needs. Moreover, the absence of fodder and the lack of financial help from the authorities do not help the industry to take off. And this is probably why all similar projects have failed so far. Livestock has fallen below 3,000 cows.

But Nouvelle-Découverte is seen as the site that will save the sector. The farmers have already grouped into a cooperative and will adopt “modern methods of production”. In fact, the first objective will be to keep only farmers who show an interest in new and modern techniques for which the state is going to give full support.

It is expected that the 20 farmers grouped in Nouvelle-Découverte will produce 840,000 litres of milk every year with their 200 cows, each producing 4,200 litres. But the projet will not stop in Nouvelle-Découverte. Research has been launched to find five other areas where conditions are favourable for milk production. The authorities know that they will have to buy some land from the private sector but they look ready to take the necessary steps.

Another project of Creambell Mauritius Private Limited in Salazie may well use the milk village in Nouvelle-Découverte to create its milk farm and dairy. Thanks to the 162 arpents that the state has put at the company’s disposal, it will produce 15,000 litres every year. The company started a partnership with the main milk producer in South Africa. The expertise of the foreign company is expected to help Creambell to achieve its objective. “In the very long-term, we want to absorb the production of all other units in the country and meet the daily consumption at 100 % ,” revealed the manager of Creambell, Rajiv Sant.