agrl_innovations_in_ssa.pdf?utm_content=buffercb41d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

The United Nations Development Programme/Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (UNDP/FAO) provided technical assistance in dairy development with a project
supporting the rehabilitation programme from 1987 to 1992, using loan funds provided by the
African Development Bank (ADB). The World Food Programme (WFP) donated dry skimmed
milk and butter oil, which the DC reconstituted and sold to meet growing demand. Funds
raised were used for the rehabilitation programme.
Land O’Lakes Inc. is a private sector dairy development programme funded by the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) that started operating in Uganda in 1994, and was charged
with forming cooperatives for milk collection and marketing. A number of primary dairy
cooperative societies were formed, which combined to form seven district-level cooperative
unions. By 2006 the district unions had formed an apex union, the Uganda Cranes Creameries
Cooperative Union (UCCCU).
In 2008 the East African Dairy Development Project (EADDP), a 4-year poverty-reduction
project funded by BMGF, focused on smallholder farmers building on early successes. By the
end of 2012, it aims that some 45,000 farm households will have lifted themselves out of
poverty. EADDP is implemented by Heifer Project International (HPI, 2008) in association with
TechnoServe International, supporting business orientation (TechnoServe, Uganda, 2008),
African Breeder Services – total cattle management, ICRAF – environment and cattle feed,
and ILRI – research. Project activities support on-farm milk production, marketing, accessing
production inputs through business delivery services, and reducing spoilage losses. HPI’s
roles include farmer capacity building, breeding using AI and quality semen, environmental
protection, heifer distribution, bio-gas and chilling plant and mini milk cooler installation,
enterprise development, dissemination of information on integrated best practices, education,
advocacy, networking and collaboration with other stakeholders. Women in particular are
being targeted through provision of heifers and training.
In 2009, stakeholders formed an IP involving: government extension, researchers, NGOs,
farmers, traders, processors and consumers of milk to identify constraints in enhancing
production, processing and consumption along the milk value chain.
Achievements. Uganda’s dairy sector comprises both informal and formal actors along the
value chain with nearly 400 coolers being installed in rural areas where primary transportation
of milk is undertaken on foot, by bicycle and sometimes motor-vehicle. Some of the chilled milk
is sold unprocessed while the rest is transported to processing plants in insulated milk tankers.
There are some 1.2 million smallholders and around 8000 larger farmers producing milk using
both intensive and extensive systems. Intensive dairying is located primarily in the Southwestern
and Central areas, which contribute about 49 percent of national milk production.
Although annual milk consumption in Uganda remains relatively low at 25–50 litres per person,
only about 40 percent of production is consumed by producing households. The rest is sold
through both formal and informal channels. The informal sector accounts for 80–90 percent of
marketed milk and the formal sector, which processes and packages before selling, accounts
for the remaining 10–20 percent. By 2009, there were 12 registered milk-processing plants and
42 Agricultural Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa