How Milk gets from the Cow to the consumer.

Essentials for setting up a Milk Processing Business

Milk production and processing business have become the key industry in the European countries as well as all across the world. Currently the largest producer and consumer of milk and milk products are Asian countries like India and China but it appears that very soon the consumption in the European countries will overcome the Asian countries. The facts and figures suggest that there will be a steep rise in the value added milk products in the year 2015. This means that there will be a great opportunity to jump into the milk processing business and be a part of the packaged dairy food producers.

To be ahead and distinct from the rest of the dairy food players in the market you will need to concentrate on proper development, marketing and distribution of dairy products. Below is some essential piece of information which you need to know if you are planning to set up a dairy farm or milk processing business.

Depending on your investment capacity, you can set a small scale business, moderate capital cost or a high investment sophisticated dairy plant to yield the benefits of milk production and milk processing business. Also the plant setup will require various equipments based on the how many value added dairy products you wish to manufacture.

There are various capacity solutions which depend on the quantity of milk to be processed each day.

500 Liters per day: This quantity of milk for processing is suitable for dairy farms having 60-100 buffaloes and cows. To reap higher benefits than the usual, the business owners can sell pasteurized milk in pouches instead of raw milk. For small scale milk pasteurization and pouch production, the required equipments will be:

•    Refrigeration system
•    Milk pumps
•    Storage Tanks
•    Cream separator
•    Pasteurizer
•    Pipes
•    Control Panel

All these milk processing equipments are available at various places but they should be bought from a reputed and trustworthy store.

1000 liters per day: This quantity of milk is ideal for dairy farms having 50-100 cows and buffaloes. The business owners can produce milk pouches, pure ghee and yoghurt.

2000 liters per day: This quantity of milk is perfect for dairy farms having 200-300 cows and buffaloes. The business owners can produce milk pouches, pure ghee, yoghurt, cottage cheese, flavored milk etc.

5000 liters per day: This quantity of milk is perfect for dairy farms having 300-500 cows and buffaloes. The business owners can produce milk pouches, pure ghee, yoghurt, cottage cheese, flavored milk, milk based sweets, ice-creams, butter, buttermilk, cheese etc.

It should be noted that the size and quantity of the equipments will change according to the quantity of the milk processed each day. Along with the equipments mentioned above a number of various other equipments are required.

The new dairy farm business aspirants can start up on a small scale with 500 liters of milk processing each day and then expanding the business accordingly. Along with the ease of availability of tankers and milk processing machines, other documentation and help is available at many organizations. The help includes support in setting up the processing plant, documentation, infrastructure planning, estimate and guidelines for civil construction and all other help.  

Source:

http://www.abl-tech.com/en/articles/milk-processing-business

How To Start And Run A Dairy Business?

The bees continue to disappear: in just one year beekeepers lost 40% of their hives

Published by the       

The scandal of bees is simply more exaggerated and viral rumor, it is an ecological imbalance that could be related to the companies that produce pesticides.

The bee health is an issue that has for years been concerned farmers and environmental organizations because of the importance of this insect pollination.

Sudden disappearance of bees a global concern

That is why every year in the United States, the organization Bee Informed , conducting a study funded by the US Department of Agriculture, in order to reveal the behavior and death of these insects.

Data from the latest report are troubling, since between April 2014 and March 2015, it was estimated that beekeepers have lost 40% of their hives.

One thing that caught the attention of entomologists is that it is the first time shows that bees die more in the summer than in winter. In fact, the study details that 27.4% of the colonies were lost in summer, the figure last summer was lower (19.8%).

Professor of Entomology at the University of Maryland and director of the project Bee Informed, Van Engelsdorp, states that "traditionally thought that losses in the winter were a more important indicator of the health of the colonies, because to survive the cold winter months It is a crucial test for any bee colony. But we now know that loss rates in the summer are also important. This is especially true for commercial beekeepers, who are now losing more colonies in summer compared to winter. Years ago, it was unheard of " .

The situation is serious for beekeepers, especially if we consider the economic losses and this not only affects insects in particular, but hundreds of crops, such as almonds, totally dependent on bees for pollination.

According to studies, the economic value of pollination services of bees is more than 10,000 million dollars a year.

Smallholder farmers to benefit from online trading platform

Published by the Newvision Date: Aug 07, 2015

East African Community’s Secretary General, Richard Sezibera. 

Photo/File

The Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) has  launched the G-Soko Platform which is an online trading platform that links smallholder farmers to grain buyers through a networked and structured market mechanism.

The platform was launched at a ceremony held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi on July 31, 2015. It  was officiated by the East African Community’s Secretary General, Richard Sezibera.

Notable regional and international stakeholders graced the occasion key among them being, The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Department for International Development (DFID) FoodTrade ESA and The British High Commission.

The G-Soko platform is developed by the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) in partnership with FoodTrade Eastern and Southern Africa, and Virtual City, a leading mobile software solutions firm supporting the supply chain and agribusiness industry in Africa.

This is through a 5-year trade enhancement and promotion programme that aims to encourage trading in regional staple food markets.

The UK through DFID Africa Regional Department has invested £35 million( Kes 6 billion) in the Food Trade Eastern and Southern Africa programme to stimulate the regional grains market through partnerships with private companies and policy influencing.

During the unveiling ceremony, Mr. Gerald Masila, Executive Director of EAGC said, “Right now there is urgency to expand regional food trade due to the exponential growth of staple food imports. Linking rural food surplus production zones in Eastern Africa to major deficit urban consumption centres requires a well-functioning regional market. We wanted to address this deficiency but also do it in a way that is inclusive and effective. This is why we developed G-Soko; a market transaction platform that will enhance food trade across borders, and contribute towards making trading more transparent.”

The platform performs a structured trade function that integrates the entire grain trade from farm to market. Through G-Soko, farmers are able to aggregate their produce through a certified warehouse and also access financial services using their grains as collateral. For the first time, grain farmers in the region including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will now be able to trade their grain free, competitively and transparently across the region, through the G-Soko Platform.

Reiterating the technical capabilities of the platform and its role as a solution-provider, Virtual City Managing Director, John Waibochi noted that, “The model addresses the challenge of funds inadequacy by devising affordable export/import financing modalities. It creates synergies from the small scale farmers to the bulk buyers based on tested market structures.

This system also enhances traceability of grains. Its Grain Bulking feature allows farmers to consolidate and sell their grains at aggregation centers linked with certified warehouses. More importantly, G-Soko will Increase the utilization of East African standards for grain commodities and products because quality assurance is key.”

Speaking at the event Marc Van Uytvanck, Team Leader of FoodTrade ESA said that, ”FoodTrade is proud to be associated with the East Africa Grain Council and its G-Soko Project that unlocks trade for smallholder farmers through a private sector-driven market platform that will link buyers and sellers in staple foods in Eastern Africa against spot market condition. The platform will provide farmers utilizing the certified warehouses to access local financing from participating banks for inputs; will increase production and create surpluses; and accelerate the utilization of grades and standards for grains and beans.”

The East Africa Community (EAC) also put its weight behind the G-Soko platform reinstating its commitment to develop sustainable structures in Grain Trade.

Mr. Jean Baptiste Havugimana, Director Productive Sectors, speaking on behalf of the Secretary General, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera, noted that the G-Soko Platform, was instrumental in driving regional integration and Trade, while assuring quality grades and standards for economic growth. “The EAC is committed to working with the Eastern Africa Grain Council and its regional partners in regional economic growth and support to regional trade within the EAC member states. As a private sector partner, we believe G-SOKO, will provide a wider grain market for all the countries in the region. Farmers from the member states can now trade freely as part of the common market protocol, through this partnership.”

A pilot project in Kenya that ran prior to the official launch attracted 10 warehouses and 5 banks, setting the pace for an optimistic gradual scaling throughout the Eastern Africa region. The event culminated into an exhibition where participants logged onto various workstations and were able to test out G-Soko’s features.

Activists challenge plant law

Published  by the Newvision Date: Aug 07, 2015

By David Lumu          

Denis Magola, a farmer in Mityana district is a very bitter man. Not because of bad weather or failure of crops to germinate.

Magola’s nightmare lies in what he calls the ‘venom’ that the Plant Variety Protection Act has unleashed into the country’s lifeline—agriculture, which according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, employs 72% of the 36 million Ugandans.

“The law removes our rights on food we grow and we don’t have a right on the seeds we produce. This means that we have no right to re-plant or sell seeds without the authority of the plant breeders,” he said.

Magola planted maize on three acres but as he waits for the harvest, he is equally disturbed with how to deal with the produce from seeds he purchased from breeders.

In 2014, Parliament passed the Plant Variety Protection Act.

The law gives plant breeders exclusive rights to produce, sell and also license other persons to sell and export plant varieties and reproductive materials of plants of that variety for sale.

“If we do so (sell, reproduce and produce), it will be illegal,” Magola told New Vision Thursday.

To some activists, the law gives a few people powers to the seeds—locking out so many farmers—in the traditional game of agriculture.

To cure this trend, civil society groups represented by the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), Food Rights Alliance Uganda (FRA), SEATINI Uganda and Action Aid Uganda yesterday petitioned the Constitutional Court challenging the Plant Variety Protection Act.

“The grant of exclusive rights to plant breeders over reproductive material of plant varieties amounts to privatization of Uganda’s food system and holds common farmers at ransom since seed is at the heart of the food system in Uganda and is the only source of livelihood for farmers,” said Agnes Kirabo, the executive director of Food Rights Alliance Uganda.

James Zeere, one of the lawyers representing the farmers said that: “By petitioning court, we want to balance the rights of farmers and innovators”.

“Plant breeder’s rights should stop at the seed and not the usage of the seed by the purchaser,” he said.

Alex Lwakuba, a commissioner in the department of crop protection and marketing at the Ministry of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries, said that he could not comment on the intricacies surrounding the contentious law.

Katunkuma: Bitter berries are Iga’s gold

Published in

The Newvision. Aug 06, 2015

Patrick Iga grows bitter berries on four acres of land. (Credit: Umar Nsubuga)

By Umar Nsubuga

Patrick Iga has maintained a vegetable farming business for many years, and like any other business, he has seen days of profits as well as the low ones of losses.

Today, he is earning handsomely thanks to a friend who introduced him to the idea of growing bitter berries – or pea eggplants – two years ago.

His change in strategy has not only benefited Iga, but also several other people in Luwero district whom he taught and are not growing the highly nutritious bitter berries (locally katunkuma) commercially.

Iga never earned as much from growing African eggplants (locally entula) as he does fromkantunkuma, which he grows on a four-acre piece of land.

"I used to make a profit of one million [shillings] from the four-acre land, but with katunkuma I get almost double after every harvest. When you compare, there is a big difference," he says, urging more farmers to take on the agribusiness.

He did not hesitate to start growing bitter berries after his friend had explained to him the benefits.

To begin with, the first season of his new agri-venture saw most of Iga’s customers being his immediate clients. Today, he says, people travel from afar to buy the berries.

In fact, prices have since shot up, a factor that has seen the hardworking and equally inspiring farmer reap big from his beloved agribusiness.

Following his first harvest, he planted more of the ever-bearing variety and now he says that he will never stop because he has benefited from it.

 "My workers normally harvest them every day since they ripen very quickly and you can harvest them continuously for two years before uprooting them and planting new ones.

Every day, Iga and his workers make sure they harvest and keep the bitter berries clean at all times. He then sells when they are dry.

A kilogramme goes for sh5,000. Iga earns a monthly profit of sh2m – after harvesting and packaging the product.

Packaging, he says, allows him reach supermarkets where he sells his produce on time and when still fresh.

This also gives him enough time to return to his farm and plan for the next harvesting.

Nutritional and medicinal values

From the consumer point of view, katunkuma comes with plenty of nutritional benefits.

According to Sharon Naluwende, a nutritionist at Mulago Hospital, bitter berries are low in calories, fat and sodium, but contain essential minerals and dietary fibres.

They are also rich in antioxidants such as Vitamin C, polyphenols and carotenoids.

"Bitter berries help in preventing conditions like diabetes and hypertension," she says.

The ability of katunkuma to prevent high blood pressure comes about because the polyphenols in the berries aid the muscle layer of blood vessels around the heart to relax, which in turn regulates blood pressure, she explains.

How to cook them

Hadija Namatovu, who is her 60s, says that back in the day, bitter berries would be put in a banana leaf and steamed on top of food (matooke/bananas).

"And when the food was ready, the katunkuma would be quickly mashed and mixed with boiled water. A little salt to taste and your katunkuma sauce would be ready to serve with your matooke.

“Sometimes, it would be steamed, still on top of the food, together with dodo or nakati (local leafy vegetables) and they would be eaten together as vegetables to accompany the main sauce of beans or fish,” explains Namatovu.

To benefit from katunkuma's medicinal value, Namatovu says you can cook it with groundnuts although people who find it bitter may be unable to eat that kind of sauce.

Although it has been with us for a long time, the medicinal value attached to bitter berries is slowly giving them a new face.

I am one of the most successful small-scale Farmers-Nikodemus Wambua

By John Nderitu -

Jul 28, 2015

Nikodemus Wambua 38, married to Regina (25) has two children and is living in Kamuru, Makima, Kenya. He is one of 25 members of the Kamuru FFS (Farmers Field Schools) group. The 25 members are farming drought resistant crops and using new techniques that require less rainwater.

“There is no doubt, that the training has helped me raise the output of my farm. I am now one of the most successful small-scale farmers in the area.”

There are over 90 Farmers Field Schools in operation now since the drought in 2011. In essence they are farming cooperatives. Farmers and their neighbours are replicating what they learn in their households. So far the cooperatives have recieved 30 tones of drought resistant seeds, 40 hand irrigation pumps and 20 drip kits. These were distributed while 2 major water pans were being constructed.

The pupose of the cooperatives is to build resilience among smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid rural areas to ensure food security and improve farm income at the family level. The farmers organize themselves into smallholder farmer’s cooperatives and Farmers Field Schools (FFS).The movements are important for lobby and advocacy groups at county and national levels. By supporting the new cooperative movement, 2,500 people’s lives are being improved directly and 10,000 people indirectly.

“I am one of 25 members in the Kamuru FFS group. Being a member has improved my life in many ways. My farm output has gone up and secured income and food for my family. My sense of belonging to this community has also improved – I have become proud and I interact with more people than ever before.”

Nikodemus has just harvested Sorghum for 32,400 shillings. This is the first time he has made such a big profit. After sowing, he had his first harvest. Then he cut the Sorghum down in a special way that he had learned at the Farmers Field Schools (FFS), and now he has harvested again. This way, Nikodemus has improved his income a lot despite low rainfalls in the past months.

“After advice from ActionAid, we are now growing a bigger variety of crops and I am using drought resistant seeds. We have sorghum, pumpkins, cassava, beans, peas, and many other crops on our fields. The big variety is good for the soil and the crop output. A shift towards drought resistant crops has really given my farm a boost.

Nikodemus received training in farming drought resistant crops, in using water saving methods, in crop management, in farming with new tools, in changing crops to maintain a healthy soil, and in many other areas.

At the FFS, members farm together under the guidance of agricultural experts. They share the output. However, the main benefit has been the knowledge and experience members have taken home to their own farms. The weather has become much drier, and therefore it is very important, that they are able to adjust with drought resistant seeds.

“My neighbours are looking at my success and I help them duplicate the new methods I am using. When everybody prospers, we benefit from a stronger and better community. ActionAid has also trained us in women participation. In some ways, I guess I treated my wife as an employee. She will not accept this anymore. Now we make decisions together. I feel it has helped me a lot when someone tells me not to be too single minded.”

Types of breed for profitable dairy farming in Kenya

Published By Bizna Reporter -Jul 29, 2015

In Kenya the main dairy breeds that have been selected include Ayshire, Friesian, Jersey, Guernsey and their crossbreeds.

Fresian Breed
The Friesian cows have a large body that weighs between 500-550kgs with black and white coat design. Their milk potential is 40-50 Litres of milk daily. They’re the preferred choice for dairy farming in Kenya highlands. They are heavy feeders eating 90-110 kg fresh forage per day or 3 gunny bags. They should have plenty of clean water about 60 Litres/day should be provided. They have a few shortcomings though; They are heavy feeders thus feed expense will be higher than other cows,Susceptible to diseases, milk fever and  high temperatures.

Ayshire Breed
Ayshire cow is a large bodied animal with average live-weight of 450 Kgs. Its milk potential is 30 Litres per day. The body of the ayshire cow is covered in brown with white patches in almost equal amounts. It requires around 90-110 kg feed consisting of fresh forage per day or 3 gunny bags. It also needs plenty of clean water about 60 Litres/day should be provided. Ayshire are hardy animals and is adaptable to most climates, thus making it suitable for dairy farming in Kenya.

Guernsey breed
Guernsey cow is yellow to reddish-brown with white patches around its body, adaptable to all climates and management systems with milk yield potential of 25 Ltrs per day. Amount of feed required is 65-85Kg fresh forage per day or 2 gunny bags and  40 Ltrs of water per day.

Jersey Breed
Jerseys usually have a body colour of light brown, though the colour can range from almost grey to dull black. Its average milk production is 20 litres per day. To spot a true its nose is black and bordered by almost white muzzle.

How UoN students turned part-time pocket money project into a multi-million greenhouses business

The just concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit featured many innovators and entrepreneurs. As the curtain fell on the GES on Sunday, some young entrepreneurs were smiling all the way to the bank.

The GES brought together many passionate and enthusiastic entrepreneurs, tenderpreneurs and techpreneurs from all over the world. However, on the final day, Africa was in the spotlight as it produced winners of the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST), which attracted 792 contestants.

The overall winner of GIST was Esther Majisola Ojebode, a Nigeria techpreneur, followed by Kenya’s Taita Ngetich who runs greenhouses.

Mr Taita Ngetich (pictured above), a fifth-year mechanical engineering student at the University of Nairobi (UoN, won $15000 (Ksh1.5 million) for his Illiminum Greenhouse project. The greenhouses offer a controlled and regulated environment, manned by sensor technology.

“Wherever you are, you can know what is happening in your farm,” he says. A farmer can open and close the irrigation system, as well as query and get alerts on current greenhouse status on such things as temperature, humidity and soil moisture by simply sending an SMS. The system is powered by a 14-watt solar panel and can work in rural areas, where electricity is a challenge.

The farmer also gets warning text messages on irregular parameters, such as high temperatures inside the greenhouse and, in turn, the system opens the flaps to correct the situation and immediately sends an SMS to the farmer informing about the correction carried out.

Mr Ng’etich says he teamed with a colleague to create a project to raise pocket money as they studied in campus, which later turned into a winner.

Chemical analyst wins for killing pests

Majisola Ojebode is a Nigerian applied biochemistry graduate from the Federal university of technology, Akure. The chemical analyst runs Bioresource Company, which offers solutions to killing weevils to reduce post-harvest losses. Ms Ojebode took home $15,000 (Ksh1.5 million) for the overall prize plus another $5,000 (Ksh500,000) for emerging the best in agriculture.

She says was an inquisitive child and remembers wondering how food expiry dates were determined. “I have always loved anything to do with science, and I studied it in the hope that it would enable me to combat environmental issues in my community, such as the pest problem on farms,” she says.

Ms Ojebode’s area of research is metalobomics, the scientific study of chemical processes involving metabolites, which are extracted from plants. “Metabolomics entails using a robust approach to discover what pesticides are doing, and to ensure that they work on the pest and not on the humans applying them,” she explains. “In other words, they need to be bio-selective.”

The process involves taking a model plant that has already been sequenced through genetic coding. Next, they take compounds whose bioactivities are already known. “We apply these to the model plant, to get their metabolic ‘fingerprints’ via gas chromatography instrumentation,” says Ojebode. “This will show us the effect that the applied compounds have on the plant. We do that on several plants using several compounds so we have a large range to examine.”

Ojebode has conducted such tests on lemongrass and dongoyaro (Azadirachta indica), a medicinal plant that people sow around their houses to deter insects. She now has enough information to contribute to the databases of scientific bodies, such as the International Metabolomics Society. “My intention is to figure out the exact properties of these plants and extract them for direct use,” she said.

How to start a dairy farm and remain successful in dairy farming.

Part One: 

By Bizna Reporter -

 Jul 31, 2015 

The following feature first appeared in farming Afrika.

Dairy farming has grown tremendously in the last couple of years. From being a hobby activity, dairy farming in Kenya has been transformed into a full blown business venture. There are more than enough examples of people making a more than good living from dairy farming but almost all of them will agree with me when I say it requires you to give a lot for you to receive.

Good and affordable feeds

Many people practicing dairy farming today are not satisfied with the amount of milk the cow is giving them. Especially when there are successful dairy farmers getting 30-45 liters of milk per cow per day. The easiest solution to this would be to buy some of the successful farmers’ cows. This is solving the problem without actually solving the problem. Il explain, if your cow is producing less than 10 liters a day, then you are not feeding it right.

To solve the problem, a farmer should first learn to feed the cows as required before buying high producing cows. Many farmers end up with diminished milk production after spending a lot of money buying quality breeds but fail when it comes to feeding them. To ensure that you gain maximum profits from your dairy venture, make sure you drive the cost of feeds down. Reports have it that the main cost in dairy farming in kenya is from animal feed which accounts to is between 40%-60% of the total costs.

There are several ways in which farmers can drive the costs down for example planting their own food if there is enough land available. Farmers can also make their own concentrates such as dairy meal. This will significantly reduce the cost of farming. There are new technologies that help reduce the cost of feeds for dairy farming in kenya such as hydroponics fodder where fodder is planted without water and is ready in just 6 days.

Proper Feeding

Feeding is the most important factor when dealing with dairy cows. In most cases it distinguishes the successful farmers from the unsuccessful ones. With feeding, there is not any one Golden formula that guarantees success. However, there are guidelines/rules of thumb that when followed will more often than not produce good results. It is however important for farmers to understand that they have to choose a formula that works both for the dairy cows and them. In that, the cows improve milk production and at the same time not strain the farmer. Some of the best animal feeds are expensive and this at times produces losses even with good milk production. Some farms have resorted to planting their own feeds and this has greatly driven down the costs.

Good technical support

Every farmer requires good technical support to be successful. Having a qualified veterinary doctor to visit your farm regularly can save you lot of costs amounting from medical expenses. It is also important that a farmer has a nutritionist visit the farm once in a while to advice on the feed to give the cows in the different lactation stages. Soil analysts are also important because if your soil lacks certain nutrients needed for cow development, then the crops grown on it will most likely also lack the same.

Dairy calf to beef systems prove their profit value.

Early maturing dairy crossbreds can return €800

Martin Ryan

Published 15/07/2015 | 02:30

Various finishing systems can be a success

Early maturing crossbreds from the dairy herd have the potential to return more than €800/ha when finished at 21 months in a pasture based beef system, according to new Teagasc data.

However, five years of pain-staking research at Grange and Johnstown Castle has found that the early maturing crossbred calves only have a marginal lead over dairy breeds in calf to beef production, with the latter returning a net margin of €774/ha at 21 months.

The findings were outlined by Robert Prendiville to the Irish Grassland Association as the latest figures from ICBF show that calvings from the dairy herd were up by 116,000 this year. The 11pc increase comes on the back of six consecutive years of increased calf numbers from the dairy herd, up a massive 335,000, or 40pc on 2010 levels.

Mr Prendiville said that in 2012 approximately two-thirds of dairy cows were mated to dairy sires, with 22pc bred to early-maturing breeds and the remainder to late-maturing continental breeds.

"With the plentiful supply of replacement heifers on dairy farms and the adoption of sexed semen by some farmers, there will still be a large supply of mainly Holstein-Friesian bull calves coming from the dairy herd, at relatively low values," he said. Four systems for dairy calf-to-beef returned margins ranging from €67/hd for bull beef to €258/hd for steers finished at 21 months. But the results come with the warning that systems are sensitive to changes in calf prices, concentrates, and the finishing date in relation to securing the highest price per kilo.

Finishing bulls at 19 months produced a carcass weight of 320kg, which was similar to steers finished at 24 months. However, the lower beef price of 336c/kg for bulls compared to 387c/kg for the steers reduced the margin for bulls to €124/hd, with steers at €201/hd, or €434/ha and €503/ha, respectively. Grading generally O=2=.

Progeny

Separate trials at Johnstown Castle also looked at early maturing crossbred progeny from the dairy herd, with Hereford and Angus heifers and steers finished between 19 months and 26 months, and grading O=/O+ and 3-/4-.

Pasture-based production for both February- and April-born calves, finished at either 21 months or 26 months, was the most profitable at €273/hd and €320/hd, respectively. Net margin per hectare was highest at €819 for February-born calves slaughtered at 21 months. The least profitable system was 21 month indoor finishing of April-born calves at net margins of €98/hd and €294/ha.

The research team concluded that various finishing systems can be a success on dairy calf-to-beef enterprises provided a high proportion of total lifetime gains come from grazed grass, but with the caveat that profitability is vulnerable to variations in calf prices, concentrate costs, and the all-in selling price of beef.

Indo Farming

http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/dairy-calf-to-beef-systems-prove-their-profit-value-31373428.html

 

Food And Agricultural oganisation Of the United Nation

Increased local capacities benefit rural communities in Mali

Improving livelihoods using the learning-by-doing approach of FAO’s farmer field school programmes.

Key facts

Established in 2001, FAO’s Integrated Production and Pest Management (IPPM) programme is a multi-donor initiative that aims to improve farming skills, and raise smallholder farmers’ awareness of alternatives to toxic chemicals using the farmer field school (FFS) approach. Initially focusing on West Africa, the programme has implemented activities in nine countries, namely in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia, and has trained more than 200 000 farmers. At the beginning, IPPM training focused on the major crops estimated to be using the highest quantities of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, i.e. rice, vegetables and cotton. It then evolved towards a broader system approach incorporating training modules for cereals (maize, sorghum, millet, fonio), and integrating themes such as soil fertility management, seed production, processing, marketing and other practices. The programme builds social capital at multiple scales in order to ensure better delivery and sustainability of programme actions and foster community empowerment. 

In the village of Bla in central Mali, FFS farmers organized themselves into a network of facilitators, which they called “Réseau GIPD”, or “IPPM Network”; where GIPD stands for Gestion intégrée de la production et des déprédateurs—the French version of integrated production and pest management.

Forty-year old Siaka Dioni living in Bla, is a member of the Réseau. He became a facilitator two years after attending his first ‘farmer field school’ training in 2009. “I decided to participate in a farmer field school of the IPPM programme because my neighbours were saying that they were getting good results from it. I was curious to know more.”

Siaka is one of the 42 facilitators  who have been trained so far by the IPPM programme in the Bla area, and who are now active members of the Réseau GIPD. The FAO programme first started in the area in 2002, with the training of a handful of facilitators in Sikasso, over 100km from the main district hub of Bla. Nowadays, the Réseau GIPD is developing at full speed and trainings are organized in Bla, making it cheaper and easier to build capacities in neighbouring communities. Since its creation, it has trained over 4 000 farmers, and numbers keep rising. The programme continues to provide support to the network through new and re-refresher trainings for facilitators and institutional development, thanks to support from the European Union and the Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific Secretariat (ACP).

Raising awareness through ‘learning-by-doing’Using the ‘learning-by-doing’ or ‘action research’ approach, the IPPM programme engages with farming communities to introduce discovery-based methods for field testing, adapting and eventually adopting improved farming practices; for example, the reduction of pesticide risks by using alternative ways of controlling pests. Therefore, farmers become experts in their own field and learn to make more informed decisions.

“Before IPPM started here in Bla, everybody thought that pesticides were toxic to humans, only if they were swallowed” says Gaoussou Coulibaly, the president of the Réseau GIPD de Bla. “Now, trained farmers are well aware that intoxication can also happen by simply breathing the product sprayed in the air”. The IPPM objective is to raise awareness of pragmatic alternatives, thereby empowering farmers and their communities to better protect themselves and the environment they live in.

Working for the communitiesSiaka owns 10 hectares of land. Before receiving FFS training, he was only growing fonio cereal on a small portion of it, mainly because of the degraded conditions of his land and its low yields. After training, Siaka decided to apply the methods learned on a section of his fields. Since then, his progress has been impressive: year-by-year, he has increased the area under IPPM practices from 2 hectares of cotton and half a hectare of sesame in 2010, to 3 hectares of cotton, 3 hectares of maize, 2 hectares of sesame and 2 hectares of hybrid sorghum seeds in 2014. In four years, harvested surfaces went from 2.5 hectares to 10 hectares and diversification improved substantially.

Benefits are easy to ascertain: Siaka has now tripled his income because of increased production and in part due to purchasing fewer pesticides. With some of his profits, he bought two motorcycles that allow him to travel faster between his fields. With his diversified cropping system, Siaka can provide better nutrition for himself and his family, and has a higher chance of obtaining a good harvest in spite of the climatic challenges.

“But what makes me happiest is knowing that I now have a precise understanding of how a plant grows and how a field can be properly managed” Siaka explains. “I can now advise people and I have build a wider network that I had before.”

The capacities being developed by the Réseau GIPD and supported by the IPPM programme range across many topics including: environmentally-friendly approaches to tackling pest problems; adoption of improved cropping practices; adoption of early and resistant seed varieties; crop diversification; climate change adaptation practices, such as soil and water management; and the integration of pastoral and agroforestry aspects. Today in Bla these capacities are being further developed and are already serving the farmers, while also contributing to the overall well-being of the community.

 published  by :

http://www.fao.org/in-action/increased-local-capacities-benefit-rural-communities-in-mali/en/