“…. because milk was somehow classified as an oil,” saidthe former US president Barack Obama. He simply compares oil with milk as it is one of the most important products that a human being needs.
Ethiopia is popular for its livestock resource and a better place to establish a dairy complex but the dairy product is still insufficient and the milk per capitaconsumption is the lowest in Africa.
There are countries that brought tremendous impact in exploiting their livestock resource and developing their dairy wealth to the well-being of their citizens. The ‘white revolution’ or ‘operation flood’ practiced in India can be mentioned in this regard. A document from Patna University reveals thatthe revolution was orchestrated by Dr. VergheseKurien who was known as the father of the white revolution in India. The objective of the revolution was to make India self- sufficient nation in milk products. Operation Flood started in the year 1970 and was aimed to create a nationwide milk grid and to that end three main objectives were made: Creating a flood of milk by increasing production, the income of the rural population andsupplying milk to consumers at fair prices. An article written by TewodrosAlemneh and his friends published on biomedical journals of scientific and technical research focusses ondairy productionand existing scenario and constraints said, “Dairy production supports the livelihood of the rural community.
It has large potential for dairy development as there is large livestock population, which includes 59.5 million cattle, 30.70 million sheep, and 30.20 million goat populations. Given considerable potential for smallholder income and employment generation from high-value dairy products, boosting the dairy sector serves poverty alleviation and ensuring nutrition security.
Currently, the government has been implementing number of strategies to increase the dairy production. A simple illustration might be the establishment of the Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Industry Development Institute. The institute was established to utilize the livestock resource as input to the flourishing agro-industry. In addition to supply by adding value on dairy products such to the outside market and gaining hard currency. Side by side with these, it is planned to strengthen export products such asmeet, honey, waxobtained from the livestock.
Market assessment officer at Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Industry Development Institute, Getachew Bekele said that currently, in Ethiopia a person gets 19 liters of milk per annum, and people who live around the capital gets around 40 liters of milk per annum.According to FAO, Getachew said, in average, a person should get 200 milliliters of milk per day and around 73 liters per annum. It is true that due to the very weak value chain the ordinary people do not afford the diary products.
According to government sources, the cattle population in the country is around 15.04 million. Out of these,around 7.56 million of them are weaned. The country expects around 4.9 billion liters from cows and 2.4 million liters from camels. On average, a cow gives 1.5 liters of milk per day, and 2.5 liters from camels.
Getachew also remarked that the institute provides three major services to the dairy industry and among others training, assistance and research. The institute has given trainings on milk quality, and how different dairy products can be produced with quality. Besides, itconducts different researches especially on the quality and the contents of milk products.In addition,it gives solutions to shortcomings relatedto counseling and follow up.
Furthermore, it triesits level best to attract investors and engage in dairy industry. The institute also assists investors to import inputs free of tax and duty and consult them on milk quality and proper utilization of producing machines. It also made efforts for the establishment viable value chain from producers up toconsumers. It further gives counseling and follows ups on the precautions measure thatproducers should follow while supplying the dairy products.
As to the officer, there are a number of problems and challenges that people in the dairy industry face. Due to weak legal enforcement, illegal dealers and brokers disrupt the market the value chain and set their own price on dairy products which is beyond the ordinary people purchasing capacity. The quality issue also needs serious attention by all stake holders. There is a bad experience regarding the producers. Adulteration in to the milk products also has become a common practice.
Problems in this regard are also see non dairy companies. In order to alleviate some of the problems, the institute organizes different workshops and invite the companies, producers and differentstake holders to meet and discuss on the problems and expected solutions, Getachew added.
There are different countries that are famous for their dairy products including Netherlands and India. A country like Ethiopia should draw lesson from these countries.
Getachew also said that, the institute has tried to share the best experiences from the world. Prior to the Covid- 19 pandemic, the institute sent an expert to theNetherlands to share experience with regard to the dairy industry. The employee has come up with different practices and gave trainings to the community, companies and different stake holders.
Currently, Ethiopia imports different dairy products from abroad and if the nation could fully exploit the dairy resource in a modern production system, it can substitute the import significantly. Getachew noted that the institute collects data from the Federal Customs Authority to identify the investors who engaged in importing dairy products and After identifying the amount of the products, the institute tries to convince the investors to engage in diary production so that substitute the imported products can be possible.
Companies like the Ethiopian airlines and Sheraton import dairy products and the institute discussed the matter withthese companies and convinced them to use products from local companies.
In the future, as to Getachew, the institute plans to send draft laws to the legislative body and currently it reached to its final phase to be endorsed.
When the law is introduced may problems hampers the institute will be resolved. The other point is that the institute will strive to produce the imported items here in the country along with providing researches that can solve the current problems.
It also planned to give short term trainings to producers, companies and other stakeholders for the second round and will try to create the market chain to alleviate the existed problems on the dairy industry.
BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD NOVEMBER 9/2021
