Milk for Empowering the Region

Challenge

Sri Lanka has long suffered a civil war which lasted for more than 25 years. The northern and eastern areas were particularly affected, being the main battleground during the war period. In the post-war period, strong needs for economic and social development were identified, as well as various other measures to reduce disparities among the people. Furthermore, the recent economic crisis in the country has made it even more difficult for the people, particularly the small-scale farmers in Northern Province, to secure their daily livelihoods.

Dairy production in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka is generally practiced at a small scale, where individual households raise several heads of cattle. Techniques applied for livestock rearing are often extensive, and both the quantity and quality of produce is low, thus farmgate prices of dairy products remain low.

The Government of Sri Lanka recognizes the livestock sector as one of its priority areas for development, both for reducing regional economic disparities and to improve food security, as the country imports about 60% of its consumed dairy products. The government is now putting its efforts into increasing the number of Livestock Development Instructors (LDIs), in order to promote appropriate knowledge and farming techniques to local livestock farmers. However, though the number has increased in the past few years, it is yet insufficient to cover all areas (114 LDIs for around 50,000 farmers in the Northern Province), and many lack sufficient professional training on suitable techniques.

Services

OC Global provides consulting services to both the government and private sectors, in order to improve the quality and productivity of dairy products in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The series of activities include: identification of appropriate dairy techniques applicable for local farmers; development of technical manuals and provision of training for LDIs; establishment of pilot farms to demonstrate techniques for dairy farming; development of training materials for use by LDIs; setting up and providing technical support to a milk hygiene testing unit; consultation with major dairy companies to specify the demands for local dairy products; introduction of feed crop and silage production to mitigate the price hike of imported feed material; and proposing of possible marketing models of hygienic milk between local farmers and dairy companies.

Results

Up to date, OC Global has already achieved part of the project goals, including the selection of dairy techniques, preparation of training manuals, and setting up technical extension models. Other works including on-the-job training for local farmers by LDIs, as well as improved production and sales of hygienic milk, which is expected to be achieved within the project period.