Dairying is a complex industry and requires specialized personnel in milk production, collection, processing, maintenance and marketing. In many respects the professional qualifications of this personnel differ from those of general animal production specialists, general food technologists and engineers. Considering the perishable character of milk and milk products, even transport and marketing methods have their particular requirements, differing from those in other branches of the food industry. It is therefore essential that in countries where the dairy industry is to be developed manpower requirements are assessed at the early stages of development planning and steps taken to establish appropriate training facilities.
Education and training in various aspects of the dairy industry can be provided through the existing educational institutions, beginning with farmers' training centres and up to university level, depending on the type of students trained and type of skills. In some countries dairy education enjoys formal status and only persons with an appropriate educational certificate can be employed in milk plants or dairy extension services. In others no legal restrictions are put to people employed in the dairy industry, but even there a successful dairy industry cannot exist without trained personnel. In many developing countries scarcity of qualified teachers makes it very difficult to include dairy training in a large number of existing educational institutions (agricultural schools, food technicians education centres, agriculture and food science faculties). Effective education requires facilities for practical training and demonstrations. Such facilities are expensive and also therefore it might be of advantage to the country concerned to establish a dairy training centre at one place, where all resources available could be concentrated and personnel trained at required levels.
Planning and constructing a dairy training centre with different levels of through-put require the cooperation of dairy specialists, teachers, administrators, architects and building supervisors, but guidelines for such cooperation are often not available. It is to remedy this situation that the present document has been prepared. It aims at providing a concise account of the concept of dairy training and a dairy training centre. The document could serve as a useful guide and checklist for planning expanditures required for establishing a dairy training centre which may be of particular importance in the event that financial assistance is provided from outside sources or that the centre is built on contract.
Two versions are given in the text. The first is intended for a first level training centre with courses lasting up to six months and the second caters for courses from six months to three years - in fact up to diploma level training. Both layouts include optional buildings to allow for training in both milk production and milk processing. Most of the buildings cater for multiples of 20 students, selected as the most economic student module. For training purposes it has been assumed that time will be equally divided between practical and theoretical training.
The plans, layouts and specifications given in this publication are based on conditions prevailing in Africa but, subject to any changes deemed necessary after thorough review by those concerned, they could have a more universal application. The construction plans may also be used to add buildings to existing training institutions to establish facilities for dairy training.
The preparation of this document was initiated by Mr. A. Sørensen, the then Director of the FAO Regional Dairy Development and Training Centre for English-speaking countries in Africa, who also prepared with the assistance of a consultant architect the bulk of this publication. Some sections were prepared by the Officers of the AGA Division of FAO Rome, who also did the editorial part of the preparation of this document.
