allAfrica.com: Uganda: Dairy Co-Operatives Need Support (Page 1 of 1)

DAIRY farmers form the majority of 80% of the population whose livelihood depends on farming. The benefits of livestock farming are milk, meat, draught power, organic fertilisers, income, savings, and dowry. In addition, hides and skins are the only marketable livestock products that fetch foreign exchange.

Milk sales provide the main regular income from livestock. Therefore, if the grassroots livestock farmers are not given maximum support in the marketing of raw milk, the consequences will be detrimental to the development of the livestock industry and the national economy.

According to the Dairy Development Authority, the total national milk production in 2006 was about 1.4 billion litres. The western region produced 36%, central 34%, the mid-western 15%, northern 8% and eastern 7%. In the southern and western regions, excess milk is poured while there is shortage in other parts of the country. The wastage is due to the inability to establish an efficient system of marketing raw milk.

The Government instituted the policy of developing farming activities through organised farmers' groups and cooperatives. This policy was to be executed by the National Agricultural Advisory Services.

Donors and non-governmental organisations have also partnered with the Government to implement the policy. For a new policy is to succeed, especially in the livestock sector, which is largely a peasants' occupation, it must be backed by strong and effective education and training of farmers, and advisory and extension services.

Most of the developed countries from which we copy the methods of marketing raw milk and milk processing market their raw milk through cooperatives. A well-organised dairy cooperative union runs on the following principles: a board with term limits, a management team comprising highly-qualified personnel, the ability to recruit members, observance financial controls and procedures, hiring competent auditors, milk quality testing at all levels, training members constantly to achieve quality milk, paying members promptly for their milk and creating saving schemes.

Other principles are investing profits, drawing strategic development plans and holding annual general meetings. A cooperative is a business as well as a democracy. It is member-owned, member-controlled and benefits its members.

Problems faced by dairy cooperatives

The founders of cooperatives often turn out to be autocratic, hard to remove from elective offices and usually attempt to use their positions on the governing board to draw unfavourably large allowances to the detriment of the cooperatives they helped form.

Therefore, members of dairy cooperatives need to be educated on the principles of cooperatives and good governance so that their members can understand issues relating to controls and member economic participation.

The main constraints facing milk cooperatives include adulteration of milk using water, milk getting spoilt as a result of additives meant to preserve it and the high cost of chilling equipment such as coolers and deep freezers.

The high electricity tariffs, bad leaders, negative attitudes towards cooperatives resulting from their mismanagement in the past, disorganised division of labour, poor pyramidal control of activities, and poor human relations are also hindering progress.

Other constraints are poor communication between the executive committees and the grassroots dairy farmers, greed, embezzlement, lack of conflict management skill, inadequate funding, inadequate education and training and lack of advisory and extension services for the dairy farmers regarding the formation and operation of dairy cooperatives.

Solutions

Most cooperatives are failing to function properly because of bad leadership. There is need to equip members with skills about formation and functioning of cooperatives. This can be done through special training programmes.

The problem of poor human relations can be solved through training in psycho-social skills. This would teach farmers how to relate with one another. Similar training workshops were carried out in the sub-counties of Ruhama, Rukoni, Ngoma, Nyabihoko, Kayonza and Bwongera in Ntungamo district.

The workshops were attended by civil servants, politicians and civic leaders. The aim was to empower them with psycho-social skills needed for proper service delivery. The training of trainers was also carried out for future training of the communities.

Well-established dairy co-operatives should be assisted to procure Lactoscans - instruments used to detect water added to milk- because adulteration of milk by adding water causes financial losses to the dairy co-operatives. The lactometer is a primitive tool which should be phased out.

Use of lactoperoxidase should be introduced to preserve milk. Many dairy farmers and Co-operatives resort to boiling milk and or the use of harmful chemicals such as hydrogen so as to reduce milk spoilage and waste.

The ideal milk preservation technology is cooling or chilling but given the high cost of equipment and constraints related to poor transport facilities, lack of electricity and high tariffs, the use of Lactoperoxidase is recommended.

Expert committees from the Food and Agriculture Organisation as well as the World Health Organisation have approved the use of lactoperoxidase system for local and regional use, and its use in milk and milk products intended for international trade is prohibited.

The lactoperoxidase system, which is well-established in Kenya, is an ideal milk preservative technique developed for small holder farmers in conditions with poor market access. It can be used strategically to preserve milk during flush production periods in the wet season, as there may be delays in delivering milk to collecting centres and to processing plants. The Government should, therefore, intervene in this matter.

The writer is the vice-chairman of the Uganda National Dairy Farmers Association

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