Milk Collection Centre Construction Guide

Jul 23, 2010

The Milk Collection Centre Construction Guide presents the design concept prepared by the Czech PRT and Afghan communities in Logar Province. This design can be used as a guideline for potential Afghan or international donors in the field of dairy business development on how to construct community-based milk collection centres.

Dairy farming is a common practice in agricultural societies all around the developing world. Milk and dairy products belong to important and full-valued food stuff. In rural communities home produced milk is used as a staple food in farming families. Milk production is gradually increasing as more and more farmers in Afghanistan are able to produce more than their family consumes.
Higher milk production together with increasing demand for locally produced food in urban areas creates a market for rural dairy farmers. Dairy marketing and regular individual sales of small amounts of milk is difficult and for the majority of rural farmers an impracticable way to sell surplus milk production. A more feasible and sustainable method is through an association of rural farmers under an umbrella of dairy cooperatives. Adairy cooperative founded upon a strong membership base creates a powerful player in the local dairy market.
The FAO program Development of Integrated Dairy Schemes, was one of the most important steps for dairy farming restoration and the establishment of dairy cooperatives on the community level in Afghanistan. This program focused on meeting the urban customer´s demand for dairy products from local producers. There have been at least three elemental steps which created a sustainable dairy business in Afghanistan: the construction of a dairy plant in Kabul city; the establishment of a provincial and regional dairy cooperative network; and last
but not least, the establishment of a regular and sustainable market for dairy products in urban areas.
Since the beginning of FAO program three dairy cooperatives have been established in Logar Province which collect milk from farmers and send it to the Kabul Guzarga dairy plant on daily basis. These dairy cooperatives are associated under the Kabul Dairy Union.
One more independent dairy cooperative was established in Logar Province but with a different business plan. The dairy cooperative collects milk from farmers on a daily basis, processes it into dairy products (butter, yogurt, cheese) on-site in the milk collection centre, and sells these products in the Kabul market.
Since 2008 Czech PRT has taken over the role of the main donor to agriculture sector development in Logar. The Czech PRT is continuing the already begun process of dairy business development in Logar Province.
During the first year of Czech PRT cooperation with the Logar dairy cooperatives milk collection centre infrastructure improvement was identified as a priority. Capacity of the existing milk collection centres wasn't keeping pace with increasing production and hygienic requirements weren't being met.
The Czech PRT decided to invest in milk collection centre construction projects. The design of these centres was prepared by the Czech PRT together with representatives from the dairy cooperatives and the department of agriculture, irrigation and livestock. All parties did their best to find a simple solution for the construction of community-based milk collection centres.