(cheese, butter) including 3 churners, 3 milk separators and a large number of milk churns for local farmers
• Training on hygiene and best practice in milking, storage and transportation
• Training in dairy cow management, in forage crop production and management
• 20 quintals (2000 lbs) of concentrated dairy feed mixer to supplement feed and boost yields
Project co-ordinator Belew Damane says that the initiative has enabled co-op members to boost their milk yields from 4-6 litres per day to 16-20 litres per day, and has enabled producers to yield 4.5 birr per litre, as opposed to the previous price of 2.5 birr.
More and more co-op members were also now engaged in adding value to their raw produce – with 20 litres of raw milk (value : 90 birr) capable of producing one kg of butter and 3 kg of cheese (value : 130 birr). Not alone was this generating a better price (1kg butter worth 70 birr; 1 kg of cheese 20 birr) - it also added significantly to the shelf life of dairy produce coming from the farm. |
