29/10/2019, Kabul – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) jointly supported the establishment of the first ever multi-product milk processing plant in Afghanistan.

This dairy plant will have the capacity to produce and store 30,000 liters of Ultra-high Temperature (UHT) processed milk. This represents a turning point to scale up the Afghan dairy sector and contributes to import substitution of dairy products in the country.

Establishment ofUHT processing plant is very relevant to the Afghan context. UHT milk is the most favored imported dairy product available in Afghan markets. As UHT milk has a shelf life of over six months without refrigeration, excess milk during the high milk production season can be processed into UHT products, and can be marketed during the low milk production seasons.

This dairy plant is one of the major outputs of the Integrated Dairy Scheme (IDS) Project funded by International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and implemented by FAO with a total budget of about USD 8.5 million.  The project, implemented between 2014 and 2022 focuses on promoting sustainable livelihoods improvement of dairy farmers by supporting them in increased milk production, connecting them to raw milk collection networks, and establishing milk processing and marketing centers. More than 3,000 dairy farmers in 35 village-level cooperatives in Kabul, Parwan and Logar provinces have so far benefited from the project. The establishment of this new dairy plant will also enable these dairy farmers to link their products with larger markets.

“This dairy plant will take the country’s dairy sector to a higher level, and dairy farming will be one of the important livelihoods and commercial opportunities for Afghan farmers in future”, expressed H.E. MAIL Minister Nasir Ahmad Durrani.

“FAO has utilized its strong technical capabilities and endeavored over the past decade to support Afghanistan in dairy sector. Today, FAO is very pleased to witness the establishment of the first dairy plant in Afghanistan producing UHT milk. It is a milestone for Afghanistan and for the collaboration between FAO and MAIL. I invite you to join us to celebrate this happy moment. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to IFAD for making it possible through their generous funding”, said FAO Representative in Afghanistan Mr. Rajendra Aryal.