Will provide access to Trouw’s feed products for 3 million smallholder farmers
Trouw Nutrition, the animal nutrition business line of Nutreco, has entered a long-term nutritional partnership with India’s leading dairy-tech startup Stellapps.
Stellapps is a farm-to-consumer dairy digitization service provider, improving productivity, quality and ensuring end-to-end traceability across the dairy supply chain. Nearly three million smallholder farmers using Stellapps’ technology in 36,000 villages across India will now gain access to Trouw Nutrition’s high-quality feed products, including premixes and feed additives to support animal health, productivity and milk yield.
The mutually beneficial partnership commits both parties to a close cooperation to find innovative ways of Feeding the Future, Nutreco’s purpose. It comes after an announcement in October which confirmed that Stellapps had completed its first close towards its pre-series C round, led by Nutreco, alongside other investors.
In addition to high-quality feed products, today’s nutritional partnership will see Stellapps benefit from Trouw Nutrition’s 90 years of experience, its innovative tools and farm management expertise.
The partnership comes after a successful 10-month pilot with 5,500 farmers across Uttar Pradesh and Kolar, Karnataka, which saw the use of Trouw Nutrition products, alongside mentoring and training, and resulted in improved farm outputs, such as milk yield and profitability.
“I have been feeding Trouw Min to my cows from February 2021,” said Sanjay Yadav, a farmer from Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh. He said he has noticed an immense improvement in the quality of the milk and the health of his cows since he started using the product. “Milk fat and SNF has improved, my cows are healthy and their coats have a good sheen.”
Both parties will now work together to build a strong advisory system that ensures small-holding dairy farmers in India increase their productivity and profitability. This is an important factor at a time when the Indian government is pursuing the target of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. Today’s announcement will accelerate this goal.
Trouw Nutrition CEO Saskia Korink said: “The new Stellapps end-to-end digitized model is a game-changer for Indian dairy farmers, and it is a shining example of innovation within our sector, helping us move towards feeding the future sustainably.
“By partnering with Stellapps, we can expand our reach in India and offer solutions to help to increase milk quality and yield for dairy farmers. I am thrilled that Trouw Nutrition will play an important role in supporting Stellapps’ customers by providing its nutritional health solutions.”
In India, farmers with smaller herd sizes often face barriers when seeking to grow their businesses sustainably, including challenges such as financial support, accessing high-quality products and services, and expanding their customer base.
Yet despite this, there are huge opportunities for India’s small-holding community. India is the world’s largest dairy market; approximately 570 million liters of milk are produced daily, and recent research indicates that the country’s dairy market is set to increase by 6% between 2021 and 2026.
