Milk Value Chain in Rural Dairy Farming System in the Selected Districts of Gandaki River Basin, Nepal: A Case Study of Gorkha, Tanahun, Chitwan Districts
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entral Department of Rural Development Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Abstract
The Research entitled Milk Value Chain in Rural Dairy Farming System in the
Selected Districts of Gandaki River Basin, Nepal is an academic research work
for MA, Rural Development. The General Objective of this study is to analyze the
existing status of milk production and milk products value chain in Chanuli, Dumre
and Palungtar. It studies the in-depth assessment of the milk and milk products
marketing through identifying actors’ factors and relationships.
The study follows descriptive and exploratory research design where both qualitative
and quantitative information have been included. The universe of the study was 500
samples. The farmers providing at least 10 liters of milk production in the
cooperatives were selected. Simple random sampling was used as respondents .The
sample size was 18 % of the total universe balancing the same percentage from the
existed milk cooperatives. Both secondary and primary data from the five major milk
producing was collected covering the whole milk value chain from production to the
market as well as the policy, regulatory and institutional framework under which the
sub-sector is operating. Actively working intermediates (key informants) were also
used. Household survey, interview, observation, focused group discussion and
interview with the key informants were adopted to collect data. For this, structured
questionnaire and guidelines were developed.
The GRB region is rich in animal resources as it owns ~20% of cattle population and
~30% of buffalo population of the country (MoAD, 2012). Cattle in Gandaki River
Basin are almost entirely of the zebu type and are sources of milk. Buffaloes alone
contribute about 84% of the milk production in the GRBs. There are approximately
1.5 million cattle, 1.5 million buffaloes, 0.1 million sheep, 2 million goats. Livestock
production in pastoral areas system that supports an estimated 10% of population
covers 50-60% of the total area.
The key actors in the formal dairy value system include milk producer farmers,
MPCSs, MCCs, and milk processing plants/cheese factories. Firstly, there are rural
farmers and their function is to be engaged in milk production. The next are MPCSs
established in the rural areas, Milk and milk products were channeled to consumers
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through both formal and informal marketing systems through private and DDC
businesses.
The strength of dairy sector to develop the rural area is; strong dairy cooperatives with
their presence from the grass root level i.e. rural area to the source of income.
The pragmatic weakness of the dairy sector were hygienic milk production/ lack of
stringent measure on quality control / lack of awareness, scattered production and
difficult geography- increased cost in collection and transportation, poor infrastructure
for milk collection, chilling and transport etc.
The opportunities are wide as livestock are widely distributed with even distribution
of cattle and buffaloes throughout, consumption of milk and dairy products is
traditional but there is increasing gap between demand for and supply of milk and
milk products, market opportunities of milk and milk products have increased
particularly in the densely populated urban areas.
Compulsion for coexistence of productive and unproductive (old, male, diseased)
cattle further depleting scarce feeding resources, poor competitiveness- upsurge in
import of milk and milk products, , increasing cost of inputs including labor, shortage
of labor- young generation seeking jobs overseas, reluctance of financial institutions
on lending for agriculture, high opportunity costs of land and labour particularly
around the main highways and townships where the dairy farming activities pragmatic
threats of the milk producing areas in the Gandaki river basins.
There are opportunities which the competitiveness of milk subsector that can be built
up on untapped high milk production potential. Since, small portion of the total
marketable milk reaches the terminal market due to different needs to be addressed
for overcoming value chain approach. These supports for the organizational and
business management and development gaps among the small- scale milk processing
units.
The main theme of the recommendation is that; any interventions in the milk and milk
value chain should address the poor and women pastoralists/ producers for livelihood
enhancement of these poor.