Gulu’s milk industry on slow path to recovery

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu country Dairy is mentoring smallholder dairy farmers to beat the odds and supply the region with quality milk products.

The farm sitting on 35 acres of land in Unyama Sub County provides training services to smallholder dairy farmers in the region and beyond.

Dr Tony Kidega, the Managing Director of Gulu Country Dairy says he is supporting smallholder Milk farmers to grow through artificial insemination, bistros synchronization and breeding.

Dr Kidega says the farm is improving Milk production among smallholder farmers in the region in view of rebuilding the region’s dairy industry through a number of initiatives.

Some of the smallholder dairy producers are beneficiaries of the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) keeping their animals in their zero-grazing backyard farms.

Margaret Odwar, the Chairperson of Gulu Women Dairy Cooperative Society says the Milk industry is slowly recovering from the ruins of the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict. She says they are now capable of collecting more than 3,000 litres of milk daily.

Odwar alone collects 20 litres of Milk from her two diary heifers she received from NAADS. She says she sold her first bull to another smallholder farmer to improve her breeds at 700,000 shillings.

The entire northern Uganda share of National Milk production stands at 11 percent. Kasimiro Ogwal, the NAADS Zonal Agriculture Development Officer says with more farmers getting support to produce Milk, production is likely to increase on account of high milk prices.

Joska Otto, a 76-year old Nursing Officer abandoned the health care job to venture into dairy farming in 1991 after the tragic death of her husband. She says her four heifer smallholder dairy production provided adequately for the family.

The farmers also derive biogas and organic manure for cooking and nourishing their fields from the livestock.

Otto says her monthly income now stands at 800,000 shillings, an amount she could not earn from her nursing job.

A litter of pasteurized fresh Milk in Gulu town sells at 2,000 Uganda shillings, up from 1,700 Shillings a year ago. In addition, for its nutritive values, Milk is recommended source of Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 required for maintaining healthy red blood cells and nerve tissues.

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