Gulf region: Major threats are lurking in dairy

Dairy farming in the Gulf region has grown rapidly over the past 35 years, from virtually 0 to 350,000 cows on very large-scale farms. Most milk is processed on site into fresh dairy products. Payment is made per litre, as long as the milk has more than 3.3% fat and 3.2% protein. The companies are partly privately owned and partly owned by local governments. “But after a number of very successful years, major threats are lurking,” says Loay El Abiad, dairy farming consultant for Artat Enter