Overview
A new partnership has been launched in Ethiopia, aiming to jump-start the fledgling commercial dairy sector. A workshop in April brought together 74 participants (dairy farmers, a milk processor, feed suppliers, local government agencies and others) to plan activities and budgets.
The workshop was held in Fiche in the Oromia region. The lead partners are the Alema Koudijs Feed Factory, one of the country’s largest feed manufacturers; and Family Milk, which buys from small-scale dairy farmers and sells packaged milk to urban markets. The program will begin with a few hundred dairy farmers and expand to more than 2,000 farmers. This initiative centers on credit to encourage farmers to supplement traditional grazing with modern animal feeds. AKF will deliver cattle feed to Family Milk on credit.
Family Milk will distribute the feed to its farmer network, again on credit. Repayments will be deducted from payments made to farmers for milk supplied. 2SCALE teams will work with AKF to build the firms capacity to manage a large-scale farmer training program, which will include demonstration farms showcasing best-practice in fodder production and animal health. 2SCALE will also lead a train-the-trainers program for Family Milk extension workers, who will then scale out feed and fodder technologies to local communities.