Document Title: Causes of low milk prices, cattle management, improving conditions of cattle

Paper code: 13033

Causes of low milk prices, cattle management, improving conditions of cattle

Questions

Despite measures by the government to develop the dairy sector, prices of milk are still low. What could be causes?(10marks)

Give an account of dairy cattle management in your village (10marks)

Assess the body condition of a one dairy cattle in your village (give a body condition score) devise the mechanism of improving the condition score of that animal (10marks)

a)

Recent developments in the dairy sector are to a large extent attributed to implementation of the recommendations of the Dairy Master Plan, 1993 and enactment of the Dairy Industry Act, 1998. Following liberalization of the dairy industry in 1993, the government owned Dairy Corporation lost monopoly and control over dairy processing and marketing activities in the country. The private sector established more than fifteen (15) new dairy processing plants in different parts of the country. However, five out of the ten plants established in the first decade of liberalization (1993-2003) collapsed/ closed down owing to various company specific and general industry inefficiencies.

In Uganda Dairy Development Authority was established by the Dairy Industry Act, 1998 to address some of the inefficiencies in the industry. Since the secretariat of DDA started operations in 2000, many reforms in the handling and marketing of milk have been implemented including among others: Milk traders were mobilized through their umbrella body, the Uganda National Dairy Traders Associations (UNDATA) to undertake small scale milk pasteurization using locally fabricated batch pasteurizers and to market loose pasteurized milk.

However With the current market price of 600 UGX per litre, no dairy farmers will be able to proceed with the commercialization drive that has been on the increase despite the government effort. Milk prices have stayed low in Uganda; and this could be a result of the following views as discussed;

The low price of milk is attributed to importation of dairy products into Uganda: A number of dairy products are imported into the country, the most important of these being long life milk products, cheese, infant milk products and yoghurts. Quality is the main driver of demand for imports as these are perceived to be of higher quality to local products. With the exception of infant milk products, however, there are a variety of local substitutes for all imported milk products. Kenya is the biggest exporter of milk into Uganda, accounting for over 50 percent of all imports. The imports are demanded by the more affluent customers and are accessed primarily through supermarket stores and a limited number of grocery shops. This implies a relatively small level of demand.