Cooperative improves milk farmers’ fortunes
Men sieve milk before putting it into the cooler to keep it fresh. Photo by Otushabire Tibyangye.
What you need to know:
How farmers were taken advantage of. Previously, few individual farmers owned milk coolers and this left them vulnerable to being cheated by middlemen.
Kiruhura
Farmers in Kiruhura District under their cooperative, can now negotiate for improved milk prices, thanks to improved storage equipment.
Previously, few individual farmers owned milk coolers and this left them vulnerable to being cheated by middlemen.
But with collective milk bulking centres under a cooperative society— Uganda Crane Creameries Cooperative Union (UCCCU), they have been able to grow their earnings because they have access to new markets.
Finding value
The chairman of the Kanyanya Farmers’ Cooperative Society (KFCS), Mr Perez Kambaho, says the intention of uniting was to get value for their milk and stop exploiters who were fleecing them. “We wanted to stop middlemen who used to buy our milk at giveaway prices and reduce farmers’ losses in the rainy season. Majority of our members would at times not sell any milk during the rainy season because there was no bulk centre where milk could be stored before delivery. Yet the milk was on high demand in urban centres like Mbarara and Kampala,” Mr Kambaho says.
Besides marketing, farmers were also faced with poor milk hygiene, quality, delayed deliveries, pricing, milk testing equipment and a host of other problems.
Hiring coolers
The farmers under the association hired an old cooler from Sameer Livestock Agriculture Ltd, a processing company which took over Dairy Corporation, which they have been using until the beginning of this year. “We have been facing the challenges of exploitation by the processor, expensive maintenance of the cooler and laxity among farmers,” Kambaho says.
Mr Justus Gombya, the field operation officer UCCCU, says the new cooling system has reduced operational costs as the coolers are self-cleaning and the milk takes a short time to cool. “Through UCCCU we have acquired a new cooler through the value chain that has turned around our fortunes. Since we got a new cooling system, we have saved Shs2.5 million per month on fuel alone, thus reducing the operational costs almost by 60 per cent,” Mr Johnson Turwomwe, the treasurer of KFCS says.
