1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Background of dairy industry development in Tanzania
4. The milk supply situation in Tanzania: The facts.
5. Milk supply and consumption in Dar es Salaam
6. Linking producer and consumer
7. Summary and recommendations
6. Conclusions
References:
Lusato R. Kurwijila1 and Jorgen Henriksen2
¹Dairy Technology laboratory, Department of Animal Science & Production
Sokoine University of Agriculture
P.O. Box 3004, Morogoro Tanzania.
²AGAM-FAO, Rome, Italy
According to the 1988 population census, Tanzania had a population of 23,174,336 million people increasing at an annual rate of 2.8%. Out of these the urban population constituted about 15% growing at the rate of about 5%. By extrapolation, Tanzania's population is estimated to be 26,595,000 million in 1995. The population in the major cities according to projections based on the 1988 census are as follows: Dar es Salaam (1.7 million people), Mwanza (500,000), Arusha (200,000), Tanga (150,000) and Mbeya (100,000). The rapid expansion in urban centres is aggravated by the rural-urban drift of young people seeking employment in urban areas. This poses serious strains on the socio-economic services and food supplies that must be provided to meet the demand of the urban populations.
The urban sector depends on food supplies produced in the rural areas. The food must be supplied in adequate amounts and acceptable quality. While this may not be a serious problem with certain types of foods such as grain cereals, the requirement for swift supply of highly perishable and bulky foods such as milk and meat pose serious organisational problems in the producer-consumer marketing chain.
The main objective of this paper is to give a general overview of the major issues that relate to the problem of supply of milk to rapidly growing cities in developing countries using Tanzania as an example. The paper focuses on problems related to domestic milk production, marketing, processing and distribution. The problem of rapid population growth per se is not addressed in this paper because it is treated as a problem that challenges the dairy industry to cope with increasing demand for milk and milk products.
The problems of supply of milk and milk products to rapidly growing urban centres is examined firstly in a historical perspective with regard to past development strategies in rural milk producer-urban milk consumer linkages that have been attempted in Tanzania. This is done in order to identify weakness in the past strategies and to suggest new approaches. In the second part of the paper new approaches and developments in organisation and implementation of dairy production and marketing are discussed with a view to arriving at recommendations and policy options that may facilitate a more sustainable production and supply of milk to urban markets in Tanzania without too much reliance on imports. A case study of milk supply to Dar es Salaam is discussed in more detail in the light of the changing socio-economic and political environment currently taking place in Tanzania.
This study was conducted through visits, interviews and discussions with relevant people at institutions such as the World Food Programme Project TAN 2247, Dar es Salaam; Tanzania Dairies Ltd. (Dar es Salaam and Arusha Plant) and Bhakresa and Tropical Foods Dairy units were also visited.
Visits were also made to "Dar Maziwa Project"2 in Dar es Salaam and to a private milk trader/processor in Dar es Salaam. Milk traders and Maasai pastoralists on the Dar es Salaam Chalinze route were also interviewed through informal discussions.
(2This is a an Austrian Government supported Project that is concerned with the supply of fresh, locally produced milk to the City of Dar es Salaam particularly from the Maasai pastoralists along the Dar es salaam - Morogoro and Tanga Roads.)
Various reports and documents collected during visits to relevant institutions provided information relevant to the study (see list of bibliography). Some observations were based entirely on the authors' experience with the dairy industry in East Africa and particularly in Tanzania (accumulated over the last 18 years).
3.1 Large scale dairy farms
Realising the inadequacy of domestic milk supplies in Tanzania in meeting the demand for milk and milk products, the Tanzania Government embarked on an ambitious dairy development programme in 1975 with the help of the World Bank. A dairy farming company (DAFCO) was formed charged with the operation of a number of large scale parastatal dairy farms. Other parastatal companies such as the National Food Corporation (NAFCO) and the Tanzania Sisal Authority (TSA) invested also in Dairy farming. The main objective of starting these farms was to produce milk for the urban population as well as supply breeding stock to small holder farmers. Like many parastatal sector investments in Tanzania, the performance of large scale dairy farms has been on the decline to the extent that under the parastatal sector reform divesture by the government is under serious debate for implementation.
3.2 Heifer Breeding Units
By 1983, it was realised that the productivity of dairy cattle on parastatal dairy farms was declining. The livestock policy pronounced by the government in 1983 recognised the central role of small holder dairy production in dairy development. The new policy emphasised the production of heifers for distribution to small scale farmers. A number of Heifer Breeding Units (HBU) were started as parastatals to produce heifers for distribution to small scale farmers. Development of HBU's was financed largely by World Food Programme funds generated by the sale of reconstituted milk made from donated milk powder and butter oil. About 2000 heifers are produced from these units annually against an estimated national demand of about 8000 heifers annually (Massae, 1993) and a target of 5,000 heifers per year (MALD, 1989). The performance of HBU's has thus been rather low, and moves towards privatisation of some HBUs are under discussion.
3.3 Small holder Dairy Development
In recognition of the central role of small holder farmers in the development of the dairy industry in Tanzania, the government has with assistance of bilateral donor agencies, supported a number of Small holder dairy development programmes in the country. Notable examples are the Small Scale Dairy Development Programme (SDDP) in Iringa and Mbeya (Swiss Government assistance); the Arusha/Kilimanjaro Dairy extension Project (FAO/UNDP assistance); the Tanga Smallholder Dairy Extension Project (SDEP) (Dutch Government assistance); the Kagera Small holder Dairy extension project (Dutch Government assistance) and the Heifer Project International (HPI) heifer-in-trust (HIT) schemes (Massae, 1993).
A number of church and non-church affiliated Non-governmental organisations are also involved in the promotion of dairy production at community level e.g. through the introduction of dairy goats (e.g. Farm Africa in Babati).
As has been reported elsewhere (Houterman et al, 1991, 1993; Morungu, 1993; Mdoe, 1993; Massae 1993; Kurwijila, 1993) small holder dairy production in Tanzania seems to be progressing well to the extent that in some cases milk marketing is becoming a problem of much concern (Mdoe, 1993, Scheinman et al, 1992).
3.4 Large Scale Milk Processing
Alongside the establishment of large scale farms, Tanzania Dairies Ltd. (TDL) was formed with the objective of processing milk from the large scale farms (Arusha Plant, Mbeya Plant and Tanga Plant) as well as from traditional sector small holder farmers (Musoma Plant, Utegi Plant and Tabora Plant). Some plants were established to process mainly imported milk products (e.g. Dar es Salaam plant).
Fig. 1 shows the distribution of cattle and the location of the main dairy development activities including TDL's milk processing facilities. It can be noted that Southern Tanzania which has a very scarse cattle population has been favoured with a number of livestock multiplication units. Although Mara region was blessed with two large scale milk processing plants, their performance over the years has been disappointing.
The biggest problem has been that these plants were overscaled in relation to the infrastructural capacity to collect and process local milk and to maintain and service the equipment. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show the worsening decline in both plant capacity utilisation and collection of locally produced milk for all TDL plants. Utegi, Musoma, Mbeya and Tabora plants have been worst affected as their capacity to collect local milk declined over time (Fig 3)
3.5 Small scale milk processing and marketing
Due to the decline in TDL's milk collection and processing capacity over the years (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3), and improvements being made in promotion of small holder dairy production in areas such as Kagera, Arusha/Kilimanjaro, Tanga and Mbeya, small scale milk processing has recently emerged in Tanzania (Kurwijila, 1990).
Milk processing is done either on-farm or by small holder producer co-operatives including various women groups in the Kilimanjaro and Tanga highlands (Ulicky, 1989; Scheinman et al, 1992). In traditional cattle areas like Shinyanga, Mwanza, Tabora and Mara private milk vendors provide important milk marketing outlets for rural milk producers to urban consumers.
For the urban centres without TDL milk plants, most of the milk available in the towns is either produced within the urban areas or brought in by milk vendors operating within a 40 km radius. The main mode of transport is by bicycle.
In Tabora, the system has been well organised since the early sixties. All vendors are licensed and have their milk supplies tested for adulteration with a lactometer at three designated milk testing points located on three major roads entering the town. This marketing system is very important in the development of sustainable markets for rural milk at as low a cost as possible to both the producer and consumer.
Fig. 1. Distribution of Cattle and major Dairy Industry Activities in Tanzania,
Fig. 2 TDL Milk Plant Capacity Utilization (1976 - 1994)
It is also noteworthy that in spite of having large population of traditional cattle, both Shinyanga and Mwanza regions do not have milk processing plants. There have been efforts to encourage village level processing of ghee in Bariadi and Maswa districts of Shinyanga region through provision of cream separators (WFP/MoA, 1992).
The small scale Industry Development Organisation (SIDO) has also been involved in promotion of small scale dairy processing. They erected a small modem dairy plant at its industrial yard in Iringa but two successive operators have failed to run the plant profitably mainly due to organisational, operational and management problems (Philips, personal communication, 1993).
Fig. 3: TDL Local Milk Intake (1976 - 1994)
On the other hand the Serengeti dairy co-operative society which has operated independently since 1965, managed to survive the upheavals of the co-operative movement experienced in the 70s in Tanzania and was still operative at least up to 1992. It has managed to survive by keeping its operations simple: collecting fresh milk and reselling it at Bunda town either raw or as naturally fermented milk.
Involvement of primary producer co-operatives and private milk vendors in dairy marketing is likely to increase in future. For example, the recently formed Shinyanga Livestock Company (SHILICO) has expressed serious interest in putting up a small scale milk processing plant (WFP/MoA, 1992). In view of the large seasonal variations in milk output from the traditional cattle sector (Kurwijila, 1993) an evaluation mission (WFP/MoA 1992) has clearly warned against repetition of past mistakes of over scaling such plants. Both management and technical details have to be carefully worked out.
Tanzania with 12.5 million cattle, 3.1 million sheep, 6.4 million goats, 0.28 million pigs, 13.6 million poultry and 0.22 million donkeys and horses ranks 4th in livestock numbers in sub-Saharan Africa after Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. More than 90% of all stock are traditional, indigenous stock of low genetic potential in terms of growth and milk production (see Table 1). Cattle are by far the major source of milk for the majority of Tanzanians.
Table 1: Productivity of the livestock sectors in East African Countries compared with the African and World average in 1986 (Drabner 1989)
|
Country/region |
Annual milk yield/cow (kg) |
Carcass weight (kg) per slaughtered |
|||
|
Cattle |
sheep |
goat |
pig |
||
|
Ethiopia |
217 |
110 |
10 |
9 |
50 |
|
Sudan |
500 |
165 |
18 |
13 |
- |
|
Somalia |
350 |
110 |
13 |
13 |
50 |
|
Kenya |
450 |
123 |
12 |
11 |
65 |
|
Tanzania |
160 |
102 |
12 |
12 |
40 |
|
Africa |
488 |
145 |
13 |
12 |
48 |
|
World |
2100 |
201 |
15 |
11 |
74 |
Source: Adapted from Drabner (1989)
Of the estimated 12.5 million cattle only about 250,000 are improved purebred and crossbred dairy cattle. Recent estimates of milk production shows that Tanzania produced about 470 million litres of milk (Kurwijila, 1988; Shapiro, 1992). The traditional smallholder sector contributes about 85% of the total output.
The supply from imports has averaged between 20 to 35 million litres of recombined milk processed by Tanzania Dairies Ltd. annually between 1976 to 1994 (see fig 4). This source contributes about 1 litre per capita (MALD, 1989).
Milk Supply in Tanzania (1994) (million litres)
4.1 The Distribution of the Milk Supply and its Dietary Role in Tanzania
In view of the fact that milk availability in Tanzania is predominantly based on supplies from the traditional sector, regional distribution of milk supplies is closely linked with cattle population numbers in the regions. Table 1 shows this relationship in selected regions of Tanzania in which the Tanzania Dairies Ltd. operates milk processing plants (see also Fig. 1 for cattle distribution in Tanzania).
The per capita supply of milk in these regions ranges from about 6 kg to 45 kg (~60ml) per person per year. The per capita consumption of milk in Tanzania is very low compared to per capita consumption of over 500 ml per day for countries in Europe and North America which have a developed dairy industry.
In an earlier study (Kurwijila, 1988) it was shown that per capita consumption of milk was higher in urban centres (31 kg or 85 ml/day) than in rural areas (22 kg or 60 ml/day) (see Table 2). The situation is still much the same today as the national average per capita consumption has stagnated at 21 kg in 1989 as estimated by MALD (1989). About 9 out of the nineteen Tanzania Mainland regions have per capita consumption averages below the national average with Mtwara, Ruvuma, Kigoma and Morogoro showing the lowest milk consumption levels (Kurwijila, 1988). These regions have also the lowest per capita cattle populations in the country (see Fig. 1).
Table 2: Estimated milk supply for selected Regions in Tanzania during 1993 (Adapted from TDL Records, 1994)
|
Region |
Indig. cattle (Millions) |
Grade dairy cattle |
Milk offtake from indig. cattle (litres)a |
Milk offtake from grade dairy cattleb (litres) |
TDL Recombined milkc (litres) |
Total] regional supplyd (litres) |
1994 Human population x106e |
Per capita milk supply(litres/yr) |
|
Arusha/Kilimanjaro |
2,157,000 |
119,500 |
69,024,000 |
60,945,000 |
226,010 |
130,195,010 |
2.9 |
44.9 |
|
Coast/D'Salaam |
94,318 |
12,565 |
3,018,176 |
6,408,150 |
5,143,140 |
14,569,466 |
2.5 |
5.8 |
|
Mara |
963,000 |
4,300 |
10,816,000 |
2,193,000 |
4,400 |
13,013,400 |
1.4 |
9.3 |
|
Iringa/Mbeya |
1,464,000 |
21,600 |
46,848,000 |
11,016,000 |
10,248 |
57,874,248 |
3.1 |
18.7 |
|
Tanga |
510,000 |
16,000 |
16320,000 |
8,160,000 |
138,685 |
24,618,685 |
1.4 |
17.6 |
|
Tabora |
926,000 |
1,200 |
29,632,000 |
612,000 |
11,270 |
30,255,270 |
1.2 |
25.2 |
|
Total for selected regions |
6,114,318 |
175,165 |
146,026,176 |
89,334,415 |
5,533,753 |
270,526,079 |
12.5 |
21.6 |
|
Total for Tanzania |
13,069,000 |
247,000 |
418,000,000 |
115,556,000 |
5,533,753d |
539,000,000 |
263 |
203 |
|
selected regions as % of Tanzania Total |
46.8 |
70.9 |
34.9 |
773 |
100.00 |
60.00 |
473 |
|
a Obtained under the assumption that 20% of the indigenous cattle population are lactating mature cows producing 160 litres milk per annum above the calves requirements
b Obtained by assuming that 40% of the herd are mature cows and (hat 68.8% of mature cows lactate each year and produce an average of 2000 litres out of which 1,700 litres is available for human consumption while 300 litres is used by the calf. i.e. Milk offtake = H x 0.4 x 0.688 x 1700 litre/year (MALD 1987)
c According to TDL (1994) d Does not include milk and milk products imported commercially or by NGOs. For example the Swiss Development co-operation provide milk food aid to Tanzanian Church NGOs to the tune of 323 metric tones between 1989 and 1991.
e Extrapolated from 1988 population census
Table 3: Estimates of per caput milk supplies for urban and rural populations in Tanzania (Adapted from Kurwijila, 1988)
|
Population sector |
Consumption per caput (litres / annum) |
||||
|
Year 1977(1) |
1981(2) |
1984(3) |
1986(4) |
1993(5) |
|
|
RURAL |
22,2 (21.5) |
21.0 |
- |
22.4 |
- |
|
URBAN |
36.6 (57.6) |
32.0 |
- |
39.0 |
- |
|
NATIONAL AVERAGE |
- (24.8) |
22.4 |
15.5 |
30.7 |
23.2 |
Note:
(1) Mpelumbe et al (1978) (figures in brackets are estimates for 1981)
(2) MALD (1984)
(3) MALD (1987)
(4) Mchechu (1983)
(5) Massae (1993)
4.2 Milk in the Tanzanian Diet
The above per caput milk supply figures, although low, cannot be interpreted pan territorial when being assessed in terms of the nutritional role and impact of milk in the Tanzanian society. Short of accurate household food budget surveys (the last of which was done in 1969, (MALD 1989)), it is difficult to tell "by who" and "in what quantities" is the seemingly little milk that is available consumed in Tanzania. We have already seen that on average the urban population have a slightly higher per capita supply levels than their rural counterparts, who ironically, produce most of the milk. This may be due to the following reasons:
i) Out of the 3.5 million farm households in Tanzania, about 17% keep cattle. The majority (>80%) of cattle keepers are mixed farmers for whom milk is an important economic output sold to obtain cash. To many smallholders, milk is a dependable cash crop sold to urban dwellers.ii) In the majority of cases, milk sold to urban dwellers is surplus milk above the family's daily requirements for home consumption. It is the urban dweller who possess the necessary purchasing power for surplus milk produced in the rural areas, hence the rural to urban market chain for milk.
iii) Consumption of milk and milk products has been estimated to have grown at the rate of 1.43% as compared to growth in production of 2.72% between 1977 - 1986 (Shapiro et al 1990). The higher population growth of 2.8% (1978 - 1988) has meant that the per capita consumption growth decreased by -2.07% between 1977 and 1986 (Shapouri and Rosen 1990).
iv) Milk is an expensive food item. The price of 150 - 250shs/litre (0.30 - 0.5 US $) of liquid milk prevalent in Tanzania today represents 50-80% of the daily income of the minimum wage earner in Tanzania. Hence the extent to which individual families in urban centres consume milk is significantly influenced by income levels. To what extent this is so, requires a more detailed study.
This is not to say that urban dwellers consume more milk than rural households in all cases: In the case of pastoral societies, milk is a basic item in the diet. Per capita consumption among the Maasai can be as high as 2-3 litres per person per day (Kurwijila, 1988). For them, milk is for home consumption first, while selling is done only when there is surplus above the family's dietary needs.
It is therefore apparent that urban centres are milk deficit areas that present a high demand for milk from within and peri-urban and rural based milk production units. Rapidly growing cities such as Dar es Salaam, with a population of 1.7 million growing at the rate of 5% pose serious challenges to the dairy sector towards meeting the nutritional demand for milk and milk products. In the following sections the case of Dar es Salaam is examined in greater detail.
5.1 Milk procurement and distribution system for Dar es Salaam
The main source of milk for the city of Dar es Salaam are shown in Fig. 5. There are five main sources of milk and milk products in Dar es Salaam referred to as A, B, C, D, and E in Fig. 5 and described below:
SOURCE A: Milk produced from purebred and crossbred dairy cattle kept within the Dar es salaam city boundaries by landless civil service workers, politicians and private businessmen. It is estimated that there are about 520 such milk producers owning about 3,100 heads of cattle out of which about 1,150 cows produce about 8000 litres milk per day 1/2 of which is marketed outside the producing households (Auerboeck et al, 1993).
SOURCE B: Another source of milk in Dar es Salaam are peri-urban dairy farmers. There are about 800 such farmers owning about 2,900 cows (total head 7,990) producing about 20,000 litres milk per day (Auerboeck et al, 1993).
- Milk produced within Dar es Salaam (Source A) and around Dar es Salaam (Source B) reaches the consumers through direct producer to consumers sales of fresh raw milk or via retail outlets when sold as processed or semi-processed milk.
SOURCE C: Traditional cattle keepers in areas surrounding Dar es Salaam are another emerging source of milk for the city. These deliveries were started in 1988 by one private business man. To date the number of suppliers has grown to three. Milk supplied from this source is between 3,000 to 6,000 litres per day depending on the season (Auerboeck et al, 1993; TDL Dar es Salaam, pers. communication, Dec. 1994)
- Milk from the traditional sector (Source C) is routed mainly through TDL plant in Dar es Salaam. The milk is collected from as far as Mdaula, some 100 km west of Dar es Salaam towards Morogoro. The milk is collected by private milk traders in 2 - 31/2 ton trucks. There are three such operators each collecting between 1,500 and 2,500 litres per day. They in turn receive milk either directly from the Maasai pastoralists or from milk vendors who collect milk from the cattle "bomas" and deliver it at the many makeshift milk collection points along the main road. The milk received at the roadside is occasionally tested for adulteration by the milk traders using lactometers which have been supplied to them by the TDL milk factory. The individual farmer's/vendor's milk is then mixed with other milk in 10 - 20 litre plastic containers. Milk collection is done for morning milk only as there are no cooling facilities. Milk collection starts from about 7.30 am. The return trip usually starts at 10- 11 am so as to arrive at the factory gate between 12 noon and 1 pm. Occasionally delays caused by vehicle breakdowns have resulted in milk reaching the factory in advanced stage of acidification. Such milk is rejected. At the factory the milk is checked for organoleptic qualities, and against adulteration and or butterfat content. Records are kept for each individual supplier who in turn keep records of quantities supplied by the individual farmers or milk vendors. At the TDL factory the milk is handled in the usual way, mixed with recombined milk to produce a kind of pasteurized "toned milk" with 2% Butterfat. The milk is then sold to consumers via retailers or collected in bulk by institutions at 180 -250 per litre.
SOURCE D: Milk and milk products from upcountry: With the emergence of on-farm and cooperative small scale milk processing units in the main milk producing areas, some preserved dairy products such as cheese, ghee and fermented milk are finding their way into Dar es Salaam. Examples are cheese from Tanga dairy and Losaa Women group in Moshi which retails at 3,000 - 3,500/= per kg in Dar es Salaam against 18,000/= per kg of imported European cheese. A private milk vendor, Mr. Lyimo of Dar es Salaam has entered an agreement with a Dairy Farmers Co-operative society based in Tanga whereby about 3,000 to 4,000 litres of milk is brought to Dar es Salaam every day and distributed through his own outlets in Dar es Salaam. He pays 150 - 200 shs per litre in Tanga and sells it in Dar es Salaam at 300 - 400 shs per, when sold as fermented milk. This particular milk trader, emphasised that he was not interested in collecting milk from the Masaai pastoralists on account of the poor hygienic quality and strong off-flavours the milk contained!
Due to stiff competition from raw milk vendors, TDL Arusha Plant also brings in I about 4000 - 6000 litres twice a week for processing in its Dar es Salaam plant whenever it experiences a milk glut in the Arusha/Moshi area. A large scale farmer (Mr. Philips) of Iringa sends about 300 litres of liquid milk daily to Dar es Salaam in special cans carried on buses at transport cost of 30 shs per litre (Auerbock et al 1993)
SOURCE E: Milk imports from neighbouring countries, Europe and America, New Zealand and Australia also find their way into Dar es Salaam. A substantial amount of this milk has until very recently been supplied through multilateral and bilateral food commodity aid. Since trade liberalization in 1986 and following a decision by WFP not to continue supplying skim milk powder and butteroil to Tanzania Dairies Ltd. (TDL) after 1993, the amount of commercial imports by private suppliers has increased substantially although accurate figures are hard to come by.
Imported milk is sold either as recombined milk processed by TDL, Bakhresa and Tropical Products Ltd, the latter two having entered the milk processing business only very recently. Some commercial imports of dairy products in the form of condensed milk, long life UHT milk, dry milk powder, butter and some cheese are sold through various retail outlets to consumers in Dar es Salaam. For several years, the Swiss development Cooperation (SDC) has been providing food aid in the form of-milk powder and dairy products to Tanzania. A large share of these dairy products has been channelled through the World Food Programme, within the context of the WFP/Dairy Development Project in Tanzania. However, a substantial amount of milk powder has been allocated to specific bilateral nutrition oriented support within projects executed by Swiss and Tanzania NGOs.
The most recent statistics of this Swiss food aid (milk powder) to Tanzania between 1989 and 1992 was 539 MT and 323 MT channelled respectively through the WFP and Tanzania church affiliated NGO's (SDC, 1994).
- A visit to a number of shops selling both imported and locally produced dairy products showed that there was a wide variation in the prices. For example, imported cheese from Europe sells for Tshs.18,000/= <36 US $) per kg while locally produced cheeses sell for Tshs, 3,000 (US $ 6) per kg presumably because of inferior quality. Butter from Kenya was selling at Tshs. 2000/= (4 US$) per 1/2 kg, Irish butter 1,560 (3 US$) per 1/2 kg while TDL butter was retailing at Tshs. 1,430 (US $ 2.38) per 1/2 kg.
From the above analysis it does appear that there was during 1994, available in Dar es Salaam about 30,000 litres of locally produced milk and about 20,000 litres of recombined milk per day for its 1.7 million inhabitants. The total supplied from the two sources is about 16.5 million litres per annum or a per capita consumption of 9.7 kg per annum as compared to 11.26 litres per capita during 1984 (WFP/MoA, 1993). The fall is attributable to a decrease in recombined milk from over 15 million litres in 1984 to less than 4 million litres in 1994 (see Table 4). It has been estimated that there is a demand-supply gap of about 12.5 million litre of milk per annum in Dar es salaam. The local supply meets about 1/3 of the demand (TDL/AGRIS, 1994). This means that Dar es Salaam presents a ready market for upcountry produced milk provided well functioning marketing systems are in place.
FIG 5: MILK SUPPLY SOURCES FOR DAR ES SALAAM
5.2 Performance of the Dar es Salaam TDL Plant
The trend of milk processing by TDL Dar es Salaam plant is shown in Table 4. From the data in Table 4, it is apparent that the TDL Dar es Salaam plant is still inadequately utilized. The recent cut-off of milk aid means that the plant has to rely more and more on commercial imports of both milk powder and butteroil. Also the plant has to adopt more aggressive policies towards increasing its share of local milk purchases. This may be attained through a more competitive pricing structure of both the raw milk and manufactured products with due attention to consumer preferences of product type and quality. The quality of the pasteurized 2% Butterfat milk leaves a lot to be desired for two reasons:
i) the butterfat content is too low as against a consumer market preference for product richer in fat (main reason for people preferring purchasing raw milk to TDL's processed milk)ii) The burnt flavour usually characteristic of recombined milk has now been replaced by a more obnoxious smell of charcoal smoke typical of traditional milk products in pastoral societies. Definitely such tastes do not go along with acquired tastes of today's town dweller in Dar es Salaam. Milk collected from pastoralists should be handled separately until such a time that they can be influenced to handle milk destined for the urban market differently from milk for home consumption!
Table 4: Trends of fresh milk intake by TDL Dar es Salaam plant 1976 - 1994
|
Year |
Fresh milk supply (litres) |
DSMP (tons) |
B/O (tons) |
Milk output (litre) |
% capacity utilisation |
% fresh milk |
|
1976 |
852,953 |
2,236 |
988 |
17,926,437 |
109 |
0.5 |
|
1977 |
943,061 |
3,765 |
650 |
18,513,385 |
113 |
5.1 |
|
1978 |
1,006,296 |
2,840 |
n.a |
19,611,156 |
119 |
5.1 |
|
1979 |
581,117 |
1,832 |
200 |
17,976,258 |
55 |
3.2 |
|
1980 |
312,158 |
2,586 |
534 |
18,930,858 |
58 |
1.7 |
|
1981 |
259,644 |
2,337 |
409 |
16,219,920 |
39 |
1.6 |
|
1982 |
339,291 |
4,354 |
895 |
16,849,827 |
51 |
2.0 |
|
1983 |
314,581 |
1,940 |
888 |
18,341,793 |
56 |
1.7 |
|
1984 |
300,492 |
3,987 |
812 |
15,676,116 |
48 |
1.9 |
|
1985 |
269,056 |
1,468 |
200 |
13,960,230 |
43 |
1.9 |
|
1986 |
187,267 |
4,211 |
1164 |
11,881,320 |
36 |
1.6 |
|
1987 |
149,488 |
1,559 |
426 |
12,073,873 |
37 |
1.2 |
|
1988 |
31,392 |
1,284 |
405 |
13,156,344 |
40 |
2.4 |
|
1989 |
9,238 |
n.a. |
n.a |
11,967,457 |
36 |
0.01 |
|
1990 |
73,493 |
1,371 |
177 |
12,887,919 |
39 |
0.01 |
|
1991 |
350,783 1,2- |
1,236 |
147 |
7,246,965 |
22 |
4.84 |
|
1992 |
13,532 |
213 |
80 |
7,583,298 |
23 |
16.00 |
|
1993 |
1,400,299 |
405 |
40* |
6,543,439 |
20 |
21.00 |
|
1994 |
1,264,911* |
325 |
43 |
4,633,631 |
7 |
27.3 |
* up to November 1994
5.3 Seasonal variation in milk supply
Apart from inadequate supply of milk and milk products to urban centres, there is also a marked seasonal variation in the supply of fresh milk (Table 5).
The seasonal variations also contribute to under-utilisation of plant capacities. Scaling of milk processing plants and selection of product range in a developing dairy industry must take into account this factor.
Table 5: Raw materials utilized in milk production at Dar es Salaam TDL plant JAN -Nov. 1994
|
Month |
Fresh milk intake |
DSMP Utilised (kg) |
B/oil utilized (kg) |
Milk output |
% Fresh milk in total output |
Monthly intake as % total annual fresh milk intake |
|
January |
153,322 |
34,209 |
3,609 |
498,133 |
31 |
12 |
|
February |
102,053 |
39,561 |
5,167 |
501,616 |
20 |
8 |
|
March |
107,760 |
43,906 |
4,820 |
558,869 |
19 |
9 |
|
April |
123,367 |
35,690 |
3,876 |
485238 |
25 |
10 |
|
May |
97,929 |
28,325 |
4,138 |
417,612 |
23 |
8 |
|
June |
129,199 |
36,940 |
5,205 |
506,520 |
26 |
10 |
|
July |
127,300 |
13,405 |
0,930** |
299,714 |
42 |
10 |
|
August |
98,368 |
11,354 |
2,725 |
255,624 |
38 |
8 |
|
September |
79,583 |
24,049 |
3,727 |
317676.5 |
25 |
6 |
|
October |
96,212 |
29,829 |
4,995 |
386,982 |
25 |
8 |
|
November |
149,817 |
27,546 |
3,590 |
405,647 |
37 |
12 |
|
December |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
1,264,911 |
324,905 |
42,782 |
4,633,631 |
27 |
-100 |
N.B.** 3500 kg of DWMP were used in July due to shortage of DSMP
5.4 Legal requirements for Milk processing and marketing in Tanzania
Although existing regulations e.g. the 1965 National Dairy Board Act No .32 (Cap. 590) and other public health laws set out clear conditions and regulations regarding the sale of milk in urban areas, these regulations have never been enforced in Tanzania (WFP/MoA, 1993). As a result of this, sale of raw milk directly to consumers is common practice in Dar es Salaam and other towns in Tanzania. Hence the bulk of the milk produced in urban and peri-urban Dar es Salaam is sold directly to consumers as raw milk. Past milk market conditions whereby government set both the producer and consumer prices of milk and gave TDL the monopoly in milk procurement, processing and marketing caused a decline in milk collected by TDL from a high level of over one million, litres collected in 1978 to a low figure of only 31,000 litres in 1988!. After the milk prices were decontrolled in 1988, the trend seems to have changed from 1991 when milk collected by TDL plant in Dar es Salaam increased from 350,000 to more than 1.3 million litres in 1993. For 1994, about 1.3 million litres milk had been collected by 30th Nov. Much of this milk is brought to the plant either directly by producers or is brought by milk traders who collect milk from traditional pastoralists without involvement of TDL or donor agencies. A decline in milk donation has also implied that the share of fresh milk supplies in the volume of milk processed by TDL has been increasing from less than 2% in the 80s to >25% in 1994 (Table 5).
In order to promote a sustainable milk processing industry in Tanzania market orders and regulations are required. These should be formulated in such a way that fair prices and quality are guaranteed for both the producer and the urban consumers.
For the various production areas to supply milk to Dar es Salaam there has to be reliable and affordable links from the milk producers to the city. In the following diagrams it is attempted to describe the major constraints and opportunities in the 4 identified production and supply systems.
|
A: URBAN / BACKYARD PRODUCTION IN THE CITY | ||
|
LINK/ELEMENT |
CONSTRAINT |
OPPORTUNITY |
|
Production |
-illegal |
none, |
|
Collection |
n.a. |
n.a. |
|
Preservation |
n.a. |
n.a. |
|
Transport |
n.a. |
n.a. |
|
Processing |
trained personnel |
- |
|
Marketing |
-easy access | |
|
COMMENT on A: |
|
B: PERI-URBAN / LAND BASED IN OUTSKIRTS OF DAR ES SALAAM |
|
LINK/.ELEMENT |
CONSTRAINTS |
OPPORTUNITY |
|
Production |
-availability of land and animals |
|
|
Collection |
n.a. |
-Organisation of producers |
|
Preservation |
n.a. |
|
|
Transport |
||
|
Processing |
n.a. |
value added |
|
Marketing |
price relations with import |
-easy access high demand |
|
COMMENT on B: Processing facilities are available, however, significant improvement of management is needed. More appropriate set-up than the large scale, industrial plant of TDL would also be a good alternative. Producer influence and responsibility should be promoted. |
|
C: MAASAI/TRADITIONAL MILK PRODUCTION IN PROXIMITY OF DAR ES SALAAM |
|
LINK/ELEMENT |
CONSTRAINT |
OPPORTUNITY |
|
Production |
-insignificant supplementation to pasture feeding |
-many animals |
|
Collection |
-only morning milk |
-inclusion of evening milk |
|
Preservation |
-no cooling facilities |
-simple cooling/storage facilities |
|
Transport |
-long distance |
-introduction of proper equipment |
|
Processing |
-poor hygienic and bacterial quality of raw milk |
-introduction of suitable technologies |
|
Marketing |
-no supporting infrastructure |
-establishment of milk producer associations |
|
COMMENTS on C: It is estimated that 90 % of cattle in Tanzania is owned by small holders and that 80 % of these are engaged in mixed farming for whom milk is an important economic "cash crop", that generate cash income to the family all year round. The major problem for these farmers to generate more cash for further development based on dairy is the very difficult access they have to the profitable urban markets. Through introduction of suitable, small scale technologies for linking the majority of milk producers in Tanzania with the market in the urban centres a huge potential for milk production will be opened up. A conservative assumption indicates that the 400 mill litres produced by this sector today (1994) could be increased to 600 mill litres through a reliable access to markets outlets for the high potential areas. If the producers demand for further improved input supplies and services is also going to be accommodated on market conditions it is really difficult to see why Tanzania could not be self sufficient with dairy products in the nearest future. Moreover, there is favourable ecological conditions for dairy development in many parts of Tanzania inhabited by small holders. Generally, there is a lack of training and institutional support. Moreover, there is an unutilized and great potential for increased and unproved milk production leading to economic growth in rural areas. |
|
D: PRODUCTION SYSTEMS UPCOUNTRY (3 hrs road transport) |
|
LINK/ELEMENT |
CONSTRAINT |
OPORTUNITY |
|
Production |
-poor quality and reliability of inputs, supplies and services |
-establishment of producer organisations |
|
Collection |
-organisation, lack of |
-possibility for milk vendors |
|
Preservation |
-high ambient temperature |
-introduction of suitable |
|
Transport |
-organisation, lack of |
-producer organisation |
|
Processing |
-lack of market outlet |
-suitable processing facilities and technologies |
|
Market |
-access to urban centres |
-specialization |
|
COMMENTS on D: Very similar to group C with the addition that this area would include both large and small scale producers. It would be worthwhile to investigate the benefits for joined ventures between the two groups. The potential for increased production would be as high, however, the longer distance would require much attention on the transport aspects and thus use technologies that would reduce the cost. With the long distance to the major urban markets local processing would also be an important possibility. Once the local markets have been satisfied time has come to develop a product suitable for the more distant markets based on the gained experience in milk hygiene, processing and marketing locally. The preference of the new markets would have to be examined, particularly for products with a longer shelf life to make the marketing less dependent on time and thus of the reliability of transport. Organisation of farmers would increase the individual farmers bargaining power and influence on the price of milk at farm gate. The milk producers should, however, join forces with private business people and local entrepreneurs wherever feasible, like for transport and input services and supplies. The availability of credit facilities for producers, producer organisations and private business people is essential. Generally, there is a lack of training and institutional support. Moreover, there is an unutilized and great potential for increased and improved milk production leading to economic growth in rural areas. |
DAILY FLOW OF MILK IN LITRES
2 MILL INHABITANTS OF DAR ES SALAAM TOTAL SUPPLY 54,000
|
NON TDL RETAIL |
TDL RETAILERS & INSTITUTIONAL SUPPLY |
KIOSKS & DIRECT DELIVERY | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||
|
5,000 |
15,000 |
34.000 | ||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
IMPORT |
IMPORT |
MAASAI |
OTHERS |
PERIURBAN |
URBAN AN |
Others | ||
|
5,000 |
9,000 |
4,000 |
2,000 |
22,000 |
8,000 |
4,000 | ||
i. The traditional sector still accounts for >70% of the milk consumed in Tanzania. It is therefore important that milk marketing policies and efforts are geared towards harnessing this important resource. This will entail encouraging co-operative marketing and provision of livestock services in the traditional cattle areas such as Mwanza, Shinyanga and Tabora. In the case of Dar es Salaam, traditional cattle keepers (Maasai) around Chalinze and surrounding areas should be assisted to form their own milk marketing organisations addressing more specifically their more immediate needs such as water, feed resource and veterinary supplies for their cattle. Training in milk hygiene to meet the demands of a modem dairy industry and the requirements of the market will be necessary before milk produced by them can be fully acceptable in the formal marketing system.ii. Private milk vendors play a pivotal role in the transfer of marketable milk surpluses from the rural based milk producers to consumers in urban centres. There is need to recognise this important market function, regulate it and find ways of integrating them in the formal milk marketing system as has been done in Tabora over many years. The emergence of private entrepreneurs in milk marketing supplying milk to Dar es Salaam without donor assistance is a welcome development. It shows people can respond positively to favourable market conditions and policies. They too will require some training in milk quality control and milk marketing organisation. Setting up milk testing units operated by town council health authorities could assist in protecting consumers against purchase and consumption of adulterated milk.
iii. Various donor assisted small holder milk production systems are recording positive results as measured in terms of increased milk production. Market for surplus milk are becoming a big problem and must be adequately addressed in all milk production schemes. Farmers should be assisted to form and manage viable milk producer and marketing organisations.
iv. Farmer organisation will form the basis upon which the dairy industry will develop in Tanzania. These organisations will participate in all the marketing functions including processing of milk into durable dairy products of high quality parallel to private enterpreneurs. While marketing of raw milk within 100 km distance of major towns with good road network is feasible without refrigeration (the Chalinze experience is an example), milk preservation becomes necessary when more than 6 hours milk collection and transportation time is involved. Milk processing installations will have to be kept simple and the range of products carefully selected in the short to medium term to meet market prevailing requirements and conditions.
v. A wide difference exists between locally produced dairy products and imported products. There exists an opportunity for milk processors to earn more money if the quality of the dairy products were brought upto international standards. Further training programmes for small scale milk producers/processors is required to meet this goal. vi. A legal framework in which both the large scale farmers, milk processors as well as small scale farmers, processors and traders all operate profitable and efficiently is clearly required for Tanzania as it has been done in other countries. We cannot be an exception on this and yet hope to succeed in developing a viable dairy industry that revolves around the small holder producer/processor. It is the only way to guarantee fair competition and pricing of milk and milk products in the market place.
vii. An aotonomous National body representing all stakeholders should be established to organise, promote, regulate and assist in the development of efficient milk production, procurement, transport, processing, marketing and supply of dairy produce, having regard to the various types of dairy produce required by the different consumer groups.
This paper has given a general background on the situation of dairy production in Tanzania. We hope that reading through the paper one gets the feeling of the real situation that is in many cases similar to what is happening in other countries in the Eastern African region. It is evident that some progress towards a sustainable dairy industry is taking place in Tanzania - an indication that we have learnt good lessons from past mistakes and the right strategies and corrective measures are being adopted. Whether or not this is indeed the case will manifest itself from the detailed presentations we are going to hear from specific cases in Tanzania as well as from countries represented in this workshop.
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DISCUSSION
Q. Muhikambele, V.R.M.
We all know that milk processing to milk products like cheese improves the shelf life and quality of the milk. On the other hand the final product (s) are usually too expensive for the consumers. Doesn't this influence the marketability of the entire item.
Response: Kurwijila
It is true that prices of such products are higher than those of fresh milk but still looking at the prices of similar products imported from UK, Switzerland, the local products have prices lower than imported products ie. 5 US dollars VS 36 US dollars (500 Tsh. = 1 us dollar).
Q. Kidunda RS.
Which of the 4 identified zones was more important to the supply of milk to Dar?
Response:
Producers in Dar es Salaam are important but not sustainable.
Q. Dr. Gary Mullins
What has been the private sectors' response to the demise of Dar es Salaam TDL plants?
Response:
Private entrepreneurs have always operated in Dar es Salaam alongside TDL. People with financial ability are collecting/buying milk as far as Tanga, Iringa, Chalinze and the demise of TDL will not affect them. The problem with traders wanting Dar es Salaam market is that consumers are slow to respond to sudden increase in milk supply.
Q. Mr. S.W. Sarwatt
Milk aroma from Masai milk is intended and in fact is good for them. To change this system could interfere with their culture.
Response:
Milk sale must be produced to meet market quality demand. If the Maasai want to produce milk for commercial purposes, they must meet the consumer requirements. Of course they can always continue to treat milk for home consumption according to their traditions and cultural beliefs.
Q. Dr. Mwakatundu
It is estimated that milk production in Dar es Salaam is about 7000-8000 Its. In your presentation you mentioned a production of 60,000 litres but only 35,000 litres are available to Dar es Salaam market. Where does the difference go in formal sector of factory.
Response:
These figures have been obtained from various sources and closely reflect marketable milk available in Dar es Salaam. Even if the milk produced is consumed within the Dar es Salaam city boundaries is put at 8000 l/day instead of 4000 litres only. Total milk available per day would still be 50,000 l/day i.e. 8,000 from source A., 22,000 litres from source B, 4000 litres per day from source C, 4,000 litres from source D and 15,000 litres from imported milk.
