FORT PORTAL – Tooro Dairy Cooperative Society Limited has received an ultra-high temperature [UHT] machine worth about Shs1 billion, under Operation Wealth Creation [OWC] for value addition.
The cooperative society’s manager, Micheal Kasaija said they requested for the machine in 2019 to enable them to improve their products through value addition.
The machine comes at a time when the cooperative is struggling to improve the quality and life of its dairy products.
“Through value addition, the household income of our farmers in the region is going to improve because we hope to increase milk prices from Shs 1,200 a litre to Shs 1, 500,” he said.
He said with the machine, the dairy plant would be able to preserve milk for between three to six months.
He said the region has been facing a challenge with milk production and sustainability during the dry season.
“We have been struggling to maintain the quality of milk that would last for only three days forcing us to sell it at lower prices to mitigate losses,” he said.
Adding that, “in the dry season, we collect less than 1200 litres of milk daily while in the rainy season, we collect over 3500 litres yet we had limited capacity to preserve the excess milk.”
He encouraged farmers to increase their milk production to sustain the milk supply to their clients.
Tooro Dairy supplies milk to Rwenzori Sub-region despite the fact that the region has low milk production.
Bernard Tibesigwa, the production manager the dairy said the machine has the capacity to process 1,000 litres of milk per hour.
He said with the machine now available, there is no need for refrigeration and they can now market their milk anywhere in the country and outside because it has a long life span.
“For value addition, we shall be able to make yoghurt in large quantity provided we have milk,” he said.
The machine is yet to be put to use because it is still under installation.
OWC is a presidential initiative that was launched in 2013 as an intervention to effectively facilitate national socio-economic transformation with a focus on raising household incomes and wealth creation by transforming subsistence farmers into commercial farmers to end poverty.
http://Tooro dairy cooperative gets Shs 1bln machine for value addition
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