Pienas LT will soon become one of the first agricultural cooperatives in Lithuania to control the whole process, from production to milk processing.
Experts of the Ministry of Agriculture have visited the construction site in Kaunas and confirmed that everything is going according to the plan.
As informed by Naglis Narauskas, Pienas LT Chairman of the Board, the factory building is almost done, all the necessary ground and other communication installation as well as road leading to the factory are complete. It is expected that this modern and automated factory, covering 10,000 square meters will be complete by the end of 2014. It will create 120 new jobs.
This project is partially funded by the EU and was launched a few years ago. One of the main reasons for this project and farmers' cooperation were high procurement prices and desire to set their own terms.
"Once the factory managed by farmers starts to operate and raw milk demand increases it should boost development of the country's dairy farms", said Minister of Agriculture Vigilijus Jukna. Especially since the Ministry of Agriculture has redistributed rural development funds for 2007-2013, and additionally commissioned LTL 60 million (EUR 17.3 million) to the livestock sector. Meanwhile, this year it will allocate LTL 65.2 million (EUR 19 million).
