Income-Generating Activities - Action Against Hunger

➔
APPENDIX 4: VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS
Map of Actual Situation of Dairy Sector
To see how the villagers are using and selling their milk, it is useful as a first step
to map the steps and directions of the dairy business from the village to the final market.
It is important to find out about constraints at each step, and to get a rough idea
of quantities and prices. It is equally important to talk to the businesses involved as
well as the villagers who sell milk. This map lacks detail regarding real volumes and
costs, and has little information about the conditions of sale in the final market. However,
a main conclusion can be drawn that the villagers have a lack of access to market
for their milk and so are either using a lot of dairy products at home or are selling
and bartering in irregular conditions. Cheese production is being carried out at home
because of a lack of alternative, which could face even further obstacles as quality requirements
from Yerevan traders increase.
Map of Proposed Dairy Development from Dzorer Valley
This second map includes suggestions from local actors in the dairy business on
how they would see the development of the dairy sector in order to solve this problem
of lack of access to milk market for villagers. Two main opportunities include the
establishment of a milk-cooling center owned by the milk collector, who already has
regular business connections to a well-known milk buyer, but who has no infrastructure.
A second option would be the establishment of a small but modern cheese factory
in Lor village to replace the practice of cheese making at home. This option was
proposed by many villagers who would prefer to sell raw milk within the village and
later collect whey for pigs, therefore having a secure milk market and avoiding the risk
that they have to barter homemade cheese for low prices.
This second map is a tentative look at the options villagers and local businesses suggest
in regards to the problems that were raised in the first map. The next step would
be to look at real feasibility studies of the two businesses and to understand in more
detail the market potential for the cheese made in the new Lor factory.
94
INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES: A KEY CONCEPT IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURTIY