USAID partnered with the CIC Mahaweli Livestock & Dairy, a subsidiary of the CIC Agribusiness, to launch a new yoghurt and curd factory at the Siddapura farm in Punani, Batticaloa.
The USAID-funded Connecting Regional Economies project joined hands with CIC Agribusiness to form a dairy farmer network of 350 farmers in Welikanda, in north-central Polonnaruwa district, and Punani in Batticaloa.
"This network will supply milk to the new yoghurt and curd factory. CIC hopes to expand the factory in the future."
USAID said it is connecting farmers who produce the milk with companies that have a market for their products.
"The USAID project partnered with CIC to conduct a technical and business basics training for the participating farmers coming from different ethnic backgrounds."
The technical training included topics such as shelters, breeding practice