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Solutions to reduce milk wastage among small scale dairy farmers in Zambia: a case of Chongwe district

Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Cooperative College, Zambia

Abstract

The smallholder dairy sector in Zambia offers great potential for improvement of the milk value chain. Small holder dairy farmers produce approximately 620 million liters of milk annually and only 12 % reaches the formal channels of milk processing. However, the uncollected milk has potential to be processed into sour milk by the small holder farmers and sold in formal channels. The major challenges faced include poor processing of sour milk by farmers, poor storage facilities and irregular timing in milk delivery to Milk Collection Centers.
This project aims at improving rural livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers in Zambia using Chongwe district as case study, by providing solutions towards milk wastage through promoting local processing of sour milk. The target small holder dairy farmers will be trained to process sour milk so that they supply to the processing industry. Benefits from this project include farmer’s ability to supply fresh and sour milk thereby increasing their income. Farmer’s developing new linkages in the market with other processors and farmers learning standardised milking and processing methods. The project envisages bringing different professionals from Cooperative College, GIZ, Ministry of Agriculture, Trade Kings Limited and Parmalat Zambia. This will be instrumental to improve collaboration and avoid duplication of efforts by stakeholders and will also contribute to efficient utilisation of resources. The process will follow a participatory approach to ensure effectiveness. Besides, routine monitoring and evaluation will be done and suggestions documented for annual reviews.

Keywords: Smallholder dairy farmers, sour milk, Zambia

Contact Address: Chileshe Chewe, Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Cooperative College, Lusaka, Zambia, e-mail: chewechi2011gmail.com