http://www.prt-logar.cz

The provincial government together with the Czech PRT continues in support to dairy production in Logar

Jul 14, 2011

July 14, 2011 – Pol-e Alam, Afghanistan – The provincial Department for Agriculture and Livestock in Logar province continues in support to local farmers by building two milk collection centers.

The main goal of the project is to increase the incomes from milk production. New collection centers (MCCs) have been under construction in Jelga (Pol-e Alam District) and Zakum Khel (Baraki Barak District) villages since last year´s October. “People who make yoghurts and other dairy products bring the milk to the center every day and sell it. It is an important source of their income,” Said Wahidullah from Jelga said. His cooperative consists from some 190 farmers from the village and its surroundings.

The system of milk collection in Logar is working on the basis of small centers, where members of cooperatives bring their product every day and sell one liter for aproximatelly 50 cents. Collected milk is then trasported to the central dairy in Kabul City. But most of the centers are based in mud houses and are poorly equipped. „So far our cooperative have had just one room in a family house. In the new building there will be all necessary facilities and even an office,“ Wahidullah said.

There were already built two MCCs in Shikak and Malak Abdullah Jan villages. The amount of collected milk has started to increase after 2009 when the project was finished. “If we compare the current situation with the past, we can see 100 percent increase as local farmers bring some 10 liters on average daily. The main reason was that the old MCCs were not able to store the milk, therefore it was necessary to transport it to Kabul,” Pavel Burian, agriculture advisor from Czech PRT said.

All the projects has been implemented by the provincial Department for Agriculture and Livestock and funded by the Czech PRT.

Each of cooperatives in Malak Abdullah Jan and Shikak villages has some 400 members, but the project impacted also their families. It means, according to PRT’s assesment, almost 7000 people.

New MCCs in Jelga and Zakum Khel will serve to local farmers from the fall of this year. The buildings will be equipped with  cream separator, butter churner and, milk quality tester and a milk cooling tank.

The agriculture projects are essential part of PRT´s activities. Among them are seeds distributions, apiculture trainings, cold storages constructions or support to silworm production. The largest project has been a construction of agriculture high school, which will be the first educational institution in the area of agriculture in the province.

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