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Despite the growing demand for dairy products Globally, Uganda currently produces less milk than other countries because of the scarcity of improved pasture and the long distances the cows must trek to get water. To improve milk production, Pearl Dairies Limited has come up with a project dubbed “Prosperity, which aims to increase milk production and farmer income in order to increase production and meet the demand of the expanding market.
South west Mbarara is the leading producer of milk in Uganda, producing almost 50 percent of the entire milk produced in the country. But the milk produced in this area is way too low compared to the potential of the region. Jane Tayebwa is one of the dairy farmers who says that according to the potential the farm has, it is producing constrained by a number of factors, including the absence of improved pasture.
Kabandize Laban faces the same problem; he has the potential to produce more than 100 litres a day, but he cannot attribute it to the long distance’s cows travel to drink water.
These two farmers are among the many farmers in the western region who have not been able to produce enough milk. According to Amit Sagar, the CEO of Pearl Daily Farms, this has limited the production of milk products to meet the increasing demand.
he adds Markets are growing. Africa’s population is growing. Milk consumption is growing, and effectively, there’s a huge demand. Today, Uganda is the largest exporter of milk on the continent. thanks to the farmers in Uganda and also the efforts we have made in taking Ugandan milk to the region.
And therefore, the markets are growing, and we need to increase capacity. And that’s why we’re also now building a new factory to increase capacity. So, we’ll now double our capacity in the next year so that we can cater to this growing demand. So, when we started the factory, the average price of milk was around 400 shillings a litre.
This is where Project Prosperity comes in, according to the co-founder of Perla Dairy Farms, Akash Kumar. This project will provide good-quality pasture to the framers, and we will use data. So now, after this data, we know which are the top 1,000 farmers in the region, where we should go, and
Project Prosperity will mitigate gaps and enhance profitability for smallholder farmers, starting with the dairy industry. Lato assures that with community support, this project can be a game-changer not only for dairy farmers in Uganda and Kenya but for other farmers throughout Africa.
With this, milk production is expected to increase from the current 3.22 billion litres, according to the Dairy Development Authority report released recently, thus improving the lives of farmers and boosting the country’s revenue.
The project has been endorsed by leading international companies and institutions globally, like IFC, PSFU, and SNV, universities such as the University of Southern California, and government bodies like the Dairy Development Authority of Uganda. The aim of Project Prosperity is to mitigate gaps and enhance profitability for smallholder farmers, starting with the dairy industry. Lato assures that with community support, this project can be a game-changer not only for dairy farmers in Uganda and Kenya but for other farmers throughout Africa.