Poster for the ‘Market-Oriented Smallholder Development: IPMS Experience-Sharing Workshop,’ Addis Ababa, 2-3 June 2011

1. Women in dairy value chain development
Background
• Dairy is an important marketable commodity in Ethiopia.
• Women have close engagement in the production and marketing of milk and milk products.
– They perform most of the production activities such as feeding, watering, animal hygiene, day to day management, milking and processing.
– Women in rural areas sell and control income from butter, while women in peri‐urban and urban areas sell and control income from milk
• Increasing demand for dairy products creates good opportunities to increase women’s role in dairy value chain development and hence to raise
their income.
Key gender – focused intervention in urban and peri‐urban dairy systems
Women farmers should be carefully targeted as potential beneficiaries in
dairy development through:
• Provision of knowledge and skills on:
• Proper dairy production management: housing, hygiene, feeding,
milking, milk handling and processing
• Introduction of high milk yielding breeds
• Provision of veterinary and AI services
• Facilitation to input and output market linkage such as
• Input suppliers
• Collectors
• Processors
• Quality control
• Collective action (bulk purchase)
• Cooperatives
• Enhancing their leadership role in cooperatives
Key gender‐focused intervention in rural dairy systems
Women farmers should be carefully targeted as potential beneficiaries in:
• Provision of skills and knowledge on improved dairy production management
• Forage development efforts such as:
• Backyard forages
• Communal grazing land
• Enclosed protected area, bottom land, waste land
• Introduction of selected breeds for butter production
• Provision of services such as
• Community Animal Health Workers
• Access to bull services
• Collective action for processing
• Market linkages
Lessons learned
• Targeting women for training and knowledge sharing along dairy value chains can move women from subsistence to semi‐commercial
producers
• Integrated dairy development interventions in rural areas such as forage development and paravets increase women income through butter
selling
• Linking women with milk markets and input suppliers can enhance dairy development
• Commercializing dairy may marginalize women unless deliberate targeting is made
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