JAKARTA: A total of 1,250 Australian dairy cows have arrived in Indonesia as part of the country's attempt to boost fresh milk production and achieve domestic sufficiency, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
The heifers, which are between 3 and 5 months pregnant, were shipped from Australia and arrived in Banyuwangi Port in East Java, earlier on Sunday.
Indonesia plans to import 1 million dairy cows from 2025 to 2028 to support President Prabowo Subianto's flagship free meals programme to more than 80 million school children.
The programme is forecast to need 3.6 million metric tons of milk when running at full scale in 2029, bringing total national demand to 8.5 million metric tons.
Indonesia's milk output in 2024 is estimated at 1 million metric tons while demand is projected at 4.7 million.
“This addition is a concrete step to increasing national milk production and supporting the free meals programmes, as well as reducing dependence on imported dairy products,“ Agung Suganda, Director General of Livestock and Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.
The ministry also said it expects another shipment of 1,250 dairy cows to arrive in June.
About 50 Australian dairy cows arrived in Indonesia in December.
