How drought impacts milk production

Arusha. Climate change, a phenomenon largely associated with global warming, has lowered milk production in the East African region.

With prolonged drought, livestock cannot get enough forage and water to deliver sufficient milk to the herders as well as the market.

This emerged here on Monday during at the start of a meeting on dairy production hosted by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).

Ladislaus Kyaruzi, the head of environment and natural resources at the East African Community (EAC) secretariat, said the situation was grim.

“Climate change is a big challenge in our region because of prolonged drought. This has significantly reduced milk production “, he said.

Reduced milk output has also impacted on the broader livestock industry which remains an important economic sector in the region.

The EAC region has the largest concentration of livestock in Africa with Tanzania ranked second in the continent with over 34 million cattle.

The dairy value chain has the potential to generate employment to hundreds of unemployed people but is impacted by reduced milk production.

Experts attending the meeting at an Arusha hotel proposed that the focus in turning around the sub sector should focus on small dairy producers.

“The goal should be on improving productivity”, noted Stephen Michael, an official of the ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries.

Milk production, he argued, has to be boosted by modern production techniques, including accessing the smallholders with hybrid dairy cattle.

“Dependency on low yielding, large herds of the local cattle breeds would not help. They need a few number of highly productive stocks”. he said.

The meeting attracted dairy experts and other stakeholders in the value chain as well as Livestock ministries’ officials from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.

Strategies needed to revamp the sub sector have to include containing the livestock diseases which also impact on milk production.

Livestock keepers must also embrace modern dairy farming for higher yields and income, participants at the meeting stressed.

IFAD director for eastern and southern Africa Sarah Mbago challenged the governments to give enough support to the dairy farmers.

These have to include sufficient extension services,especially to small scale dairy producers, milk processing equipment and access to markets.

However, Mr.George Masalya from the Tanzania Dairy Board said the market challenges in Tanzania have been compounded by low milk consumption.

No statistics were given at the start of the meeting but there was no contention that the dairy sub sector in Tanzania is yet to unleash its potential.

Currently, it contributes only 1.5 percent of the nation’s total GDP which is least compared with Kenya and Uganda which have an average of six percent contribution to their GDPs.

In Tanzania, dairy production is closely linked to cattle rearing, as the majority of the cattle raised in the country are used for milk production, meat, and other products such as hides and horns.

However, the majority of these cattle are local breeds, which have low milk production, with an average of fewer than 3.5 litres per day per cow.

Per capita milk consumption in Tanzania is currently 47 litres a year, far behind neighbouring Kenya and Uganda which stand at 110 litres and 62 litres respectively.

This is far below the 200 litres per capita per year as recommended by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).