J239 Tanzanian School Milk Project

Tanzania, Africa

The Situation

The Nronga Women’s Dairy Cooperative Society has operated under the Tanzania Milk Board since 2006, offering cooperative services to 400 members who supply milk as little as 1 litre per day to members who supply up to 20 litres per day. The cooperative is composed primarily of women.  The Cooperative sell milk to six local primary schools hence enhancing the nutrition levels of the school going children and increasing their levels of performance in classrooms and national exams. This also forms a source of income for the cooperative members. The cooperative has been providing training to its members in areas of entrepreneurship development and business management, HIV/AIDS and improved livestock keeping.  This saw the membership increase from 60 to 400 and the amount of milk from a few hundred litres to over 22,000 in March 2010. Despite their positive placing among a rich agricultural area suitable for livestock farming, their expansion has been limited due to lack of resources to expand their processing plant which will then lead to increased amounts of milk handled, increased household income levels, increased employment opportunities and enhance the development of Boma. To scale this program and to make the program sustainable the partners built Boma Milk Plant to make not only more packets for schools but also to mechanize the process and produce more hygienic and diversified products that will be competent in the market.



The Objectives

The project seeks to address development needs of the community by: 

  1. Providing long term and sustainable nutrition for school children in Tanzania by working with the parents and teachers to expand the successful school milk program. This is to be achieved through education and co-operation of teachers and parents, and funding to subsidize the cost, enabling all children to be included.
  2. Assisting in alleviating poverty in local rural areas by providing a reliable market for smallholder dairy farmers. Most local farmers only have 1 to 5 dairy cattle, and school milk provides a regular income that has a flow on effect to their families and community.

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