DUSHANBE, December 15, 2008 Asia-Plus — On Friday December 12, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, conducted a seminar on milk productivity and profitability for approximately 20 farmers from Fayzobod District.
According to press release issued by the IFC Dushanbe Office, the seminar was part of a series of seminars and trainings conducted by the IFC Southern Tajikistan Agribusiness Supply Chains Development Project in Vahdat, Roudaki, Tursunzoda, Hisor and Yovon districts. The seminars reached a total of 987 participants, including 962 women.
The purpose of the seminar was to increase the knowledge of milk producing households about basic dairy herd feeding management, including the preparation of feed rations and production and acquisition of good quality fodder. At the end of the seminar, project staff identified households which have sufficient milk production for sale to local milk processors in order to link them to processors who have demand for milk.
“We have invited local participants, most of whom were women from milk producing households in order to help them to start their own businesses. I hope that the knowledge and skills gained during the seminars will enable the participants to achieve better productivity, which in turn will lead to more profitable operations of their household business”, said Muhiddinjon Nourmatov, IFC Agronomist.
According to a seminar participant Anzarat Safiyeva, before the local milk producers used to feed their cattle using their own knowledge. “Now we know how to feed cattle correctly in order to produce more milk. The most important thing for us, local producers, is that IFC is assisting in renewing milk supply chain, which had not been working lately. This will enable us to get more profit from milk production and by this make a step forward towards the development” – she added.
This Project supported with funds from The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. It fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Its new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is a government agency that reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden. Sida is responsible for most contributions of Sweden to international development work with the goal to improve the standard of living of poor people and eradicate poverty.
