Olam Insights

with Vladimir Raznichenko, Deputy CEO, Rusmolco

Rusmolco has had a significant positive impact on the development of the Penza region in Russia. In fact, Rusmolco’s dairy and agri projects have become among the key locomotives driving the agri sector of the region forward through:

• Implementing the world’s leading technologies in large-scale premium quality milk production;
• Developing an in-house breeding centre to improve herd reproduction;
• Realising the full potential of rich black soils in the region;
• Bringing abandoned land back into production;
• Building logistics infrastructure for both dairy and crop farming operations;
• Meeting increasing domestic demand for high quality agricultural raw materials (milk and grains); and
• Establishing sustainable business relations with major food processors in Russia.

As Rashid Khairov, President of Rusmolco has noted, it was Olam’s investment in Rusmolco that effectively increased the pace of development of the Company, which in turn led to the Company making a significant positive impact on development of the Penza region.

The Minister of Agriculture, Penza region, Andrey Burlakov has said that Rusmolco solves one of the major challenges of the region – that of ensuring self-sufficiency in quality milk. Its milk production in 2014 accounted for 36% of the total volume of milk produced in the Penza region. Rusmolco is also the first to deliver a highly productive Holstein-Friesian herd in Penza, making the region the leader in the Volga Federal District in terms of growth in milk yield per cow.

However, Rusmolco’s contribution to Russian agriculture is not limited to economic benefits. Successful implementation of Rusmolco’s strategy would not have been possible without consistent and methodic efforts towards improving the living standards of farming communities by providing job opportunities for locals on an equal opportunity basis, regular training and skill development, improving infrastructure of rural areas and unlocking mutual value with our stakeholders via collaboration.

Currently, Rusmolco directly employs over 1,200 people and indirectly supports more than 10,000 livelihoods through ancillary businesses around its farming operations. As Minister Burlakovs also says, Rusmolco has taken an active role in training qualified specialists and attracting professionals to return to work in the rural areas, thereby laying the foundation for the revival of the dairy industry in Penza.

Rusmolco is also committed to meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations for consistent quality and safe products. Our principal goal is to understand and continually minimise our environmental impact and generation of waste in all forms from our business operations. Our dairies are equipped with bedding recovery units and manure removal systems, allowing us to recycle and dispose our waste sustainably.

As a business, we are committed to providing a healthy and safe workplace for our employees and contractors and strive to embed a zero accident culture in our Company. Our goal is to become an agricultural industry leader as we continue to be guided by our sustainability principles which contribute to further development of agriculture in Russia.

Concurrently, we are encouraged by the Governor of Penza region, Ivan Belozertsev who has remarked that every new project undertaken by Rusmolco is a new impetus to the development of agriculture in the region and that we can count on all-round support from the government of the Penza region as we expand our business and create new jobs.