Support of development of productivity, competitiveness, scale of operation of local dairy co-ops in Kilimanajro region
| Implementing entity: | Poland - East Africa Economic Foundation, PEAEF | Amount od co-finansing: | PLN 1,007,754 |
The Kilimanjaro region, in which the project was carried out, is inhabited by the Chaga tribe. For the last fifty years the area was used to cultivate coffee. However, due to high population growth in the second half of the 20th century and fluctuations on the world coffee market local farmers lost their sources of income and slipped into poverty. In order to counteract these effects, a scheme to purchase milk from local cows was set up; the milk is later subjected to simple pasteurization and sold. Over the years, operated and services provided by local crop management a modest dairy facility has been established, later furnished with professional milk pasteurisers and the first cold room. Thanks to the Polish Aid project, the involvement of the region’s inhabitants in these activities was greatly increased. It took five months in 2019 to build and launch the first farmer support centre in the Kilimanjaro region that manufactures compound feed for cows. A store with agricultural supplies is also specialists and two veterinarians. The local Kondiki dairy designed and launched a new system to sell and market milk products, with a new wholesale depot servicing urban consumers, a network of street vendors, and a refrigeration truck delivering products from the dairy to wholesalers and larger customers. Another local support centre for dairy farmers was established in the Uru region. The Uru centre not only provides services to farmers, but also acts as a large milk collection point thanks to refrigerating tanks brought from Poland. The Uru cooperative members also started a nursery to cultivate seeds of feed plants. In the Mwika and Uru regions, dairy production is now pursued by almost 1,600 farmers, and regular income from the sale of milk forms one of the more important livelihoods for another few thousand family members. Areas and activities initiated or supported by the project provide direct or indirect jobs to about 100 people
