TETRA LAVAL
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
New Dairy Hub in Kenya improves productivity
Food security and nutrition pose significant challenges in Kenya. According to the WFP – World Food Programme, malnutrition levels remain high, with 29 per cent of children in rural areas and 20 per cent of those living in cities suffering from stunted growth. Even though Kenya has a well-established dairy industry, the productivity per cow is low at an average of four to five litres per day. Building on positive experiences in other countries, Tetra Pak and Tetra Laval Food for Development are implementing a Dairy Hub project together with Tetra Pak’s customer Uplands. The project has already started to see positive results.
Kenya has a well-established dairy industry with a production of 5.2 billion litres of milk annually. This production is mostly generated by smallholder dairy farmers whose population is estimated at 1.8 million. But the productivity per cow is low, which is mainly attributed to poor farm management, inadequate animal husbandry practices and lack of support services.
The establishment of a new Dairy Hub is an efficient way to tackle the problems. Tetra Pak and Tetra Laval Food for Development are supporting our customer, Uplands Premium Dairies & Food, Ltd. (Uplands), located in Kiambu County in Kenya.
Tetra Laval Food for Development is supporting Uplands with farm assessments and technical assistance. The project team is training of a team of extension service officers (ESOs) at Uplands. The training focuses on feed and animal nutrition, milk hygiene, quality, animal health and reproduction. In addition, the project team has started building up capacity on reference farms to showcase best practices in dairy farming. With this knowledge, the ESOs are cascading best practice to more than 7,000 smallholder farms that deliver milk to Uplands.
“We are very happy about the joint work we have been developing in the Dairy Hub project together with Tetra Pak and Tetra Laval Food for Development. This has contributed greatly to the strengthening of our relations with our milk suppliers,” says Francis Nganga, General Manager of Uplands.
The project has already produced positive results. The milk production yield per cow on the initial reference farms has increased 150 per cent from 7.5 litres per day to 18.8 litres per day. Overall, milk collection has grown by 16 per cent in the past year and Uplands’ milk collection cost has decreased by five per cent.
The project started as a private-sector initiative and is now looking for partners to scale up the training services. The objectives are to further increase milk quality, quantity and smallholder farm income. The dairy development initiative also aims to benefit child nutrition in the future by focusing efforts on producing milk for the Kenya School Milk Programme.
The milk production yield per cow on the initial reference farms has increased 150 per cent from 7.5 litres per day to 18.8 litres per day.
New school milk programme in Burundi for improved child health
A new school milk programme was launched in Burundi with the objective of contributing to the positive health of children, school attendance, and local dairy development. The programme is now reaching 37,000 children in central Burundi and has improved milk production by 43 per cent, with 3,000 new jobs created in rural areas.
Undernourishment and local food sourcing challenges
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), only 28 per cent of the population is food-secure in Burundi and as many as 58 per cent are chronically malnourished. Children affected by undernourishment are more likely to perform poorly at school, drop out of classes and have poor health later in life. The sustainable model of locally sourcing food is still in the early stages of development. Tough conditions for smallholder farmers have made it difficult for them to be competitive in delivering enough quantities to supply the local demand for milk.
Successful school milk programme
A new school milk programme was started with the objective of contributing to the positive health of children, school attendance, and local agriculture development.
The EU is providing funding of € 5 million for WFP to purchase up to one-third of the required food commodities from local smallholders in the Gitega province. The school milk programme is now reaching 37,000 children in central Burundi, partly byproviding fresh milk in Tetra Fino® Aseptic 200ml packages from the newly founded local company, Modern Dairy Burundi.
“We are very pleased with our co-operation with Tetra Pak and Food for Development, which has helped us achieve our mission of providing safe and high-quality UHT milk to the school children in Burundi,” says Juma Mohamed, CEO of Modern Dairy Burundi.
Catalyst for local dairy development
The school milk programme in Burundi has served as a catalyst for local dairy development. The European Union and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) are now working with Modern Dairy to support 12 farmer co-operatives. The milk production has increased 43 per cent from 840,000 litres to 1.2 million litres in 2018. According to IFAD, the farmer revenue increased from USD 400 to 650 per year and now they have access to loans. The dairy development initiative is creating 3,000 new jobs in rural areas. The next step is to further develop the capacity of local stakeholders with technical assistance to scale up the programme and promote long-term sustainability.
The programme is now reaching 37,000 children
improved milk production
new jobs created
School milk improves nutrition and attendance in Syria and Lebanon
School milk plays a role improving enrolment and decreasing drop-out rates among refugee school children in both Syria and Lebanon. The school milk programmes aim to improve schooling for refugee children, in a situation where few have access to nutritious food. The school feeding programmes also attract more refugee children to attend school. Initial results from the programme show improvements in the children’s access to education, learning outcomes, health and well-being. The percentage of students missing school decreased from 8.4 per cent to 4.9 per cent. There was also a noted decrease in overweight prevalence among children.
The crisis in Syria has led to millions being displaced in Syria and in neighbouring countries. Over 40 per cent of 1.7 million registered school-age Syrian refugee children are not attending school. Retention rates are alarming; less than half of the children who start primary school complete it. Among refugee children, only two per cent attend
secondary school.
The World Food Programme (WFP) was assigned to implement the Syria School Milk Programme. In a recent position paper, the WFP has acknowledged, safely produced and packaged UHT milk as an important source of vitamins, minerals and protein for distribution to older children in schools. Tetra Pak customers Glanbia in Ireland, Lactogal in Portugal and ILAS in Spain, supply milk in Tetra Brik® Aseptic 200 ml packages. The goal is to provide 350,000 children in Syria with UHT milk as part of a support package from European farmers. The European Union is funding the programme with €30 million. In Lebanon, Tetra Pak customer LibanLait is supplying locally produced UHT milk to Lebanese schools in two programmes: WFP in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and the NGO Theirworld.
“Theirworld’s breakfast snack programme is underpinned by a robust research model, and we can see improvements in students’ diet diversity from previous years,” says Kimberley Green, Project Manager Safe Schools. “This, combined with reduced dropout rates, proves how the provision of a daily nutritious snack and milk can be for children to support their learning. We thank Tetra Pak for their continued support of Theirworld’s work to ensure all children have the best start in life.”
”This, combined with reduced dropout rates, proves how the provision of a daily nutritious snack and milk can be for children to support their learning.”
The goal is to provide 350,000 children in Syria with UHT milk as part of a support package from European farmers.