Dairy farmers benefit from agricultural training

East African farmers have benefitted from agricultural
training, with the volume of milk sold by farmers in the East
Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project increasing by 102
per cent over three years
The EADD joined forces with Heifer International, the World
Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Technoserve, the International
Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and African Breeders
Services (ABS) in a bid to increase the incomes of 17,000
dairy farmers, stated project organisers.
According to the EADD, the first stage of the project aimed
to double the incomes of 17,000 dairy farmers in Kenya,
Uganda and Rwanda.
Volunteer farmer trainers are firstly trained in feed and
feeding systems on a two-day course, and they then train
fellow farmers in their immediate community. The training
involves the growing of livestock feed crops and feed
conservation techniques
“In Uganda for example, we have an estimated four million
smallholder farmers served by 4,000 technical extension
workers,” said William Matovu, Heifer's country director.
“So one extension worker is serving a thousand smallholder
farmers. The only way we can support the system is by
ensuring we have robust communities with farmer trainers,”
added Matovu.
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