About Entrepreneurs

Author: SUDHAKAR NATRAJAN


Economic Empowerment Of The Small and Medium Bovine Farmer By The Establishment of Milk Co-operatives In Kosovo.

It is an accepted fact that the milk industry in Kosovo is still very nascent and requires concerted attempts to organize this untapped resource so that it culminates in the economic empowerment of the small and medium animal owner.
The glaring evidence of this is seen when one goes to any of the shops in Kosovo . Tetra-packed milk imported from Slovenija, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia etc adorn the shelves of the retailers. Taking into account the conducive climatic conditions and presence of appropriate bovine breeds present in Kosovo there is no reason as to why this country should not become a major player in the regional milk industry. Kosovo has the inherent capability of not only catering to the local consumers of milk but also can export its products.
Most of the farmers have one or two cows and some have up to four cows. These small farmers use the milk obtained for their own domestic purposes and sell the remaining part to the consumers living in the near vicinity in bottles.
The very fact that these cow owners have absolutely no infrastructure leads to a situation where the sale of milk is erratic and he is not always sure that all the milk produced would be sold at appropriate rates. Cases of distress sales at way below the market price are known to have occurred primarily due to the fact that the farmer does not have , nor can he afford , centralized storage and processing facilities.
Thus for the cow owning farmer, the cow is only a means to supplement his income and is not the mainstay of his earning.

The scenario described above leads to economic weakness. Due to the fact that the farmer does not get the right price for his product and that his milk does not have long shelf-life, he remains economically weak and has to subsist on other means to feed his family and fend for himself.
Thus it is eminently imperative that a Milk Cooperative be established in Kosovo in order to achieve the following broad objectives:

- to increase processing facilities
- to create modern milk supplies
- to develop storage and transportation
- to improve milk collection
- to improve dairy farming.

The Milk Co-operatives in Kosovo would be owned by each and every farmer who is a member and the individual would have a stake in the success of the project. This would lead to a greater involvement of all the small and medium farmers and therefore would sow the seeds for a future Farmer Owned Diary Industry Of Kosovo.
These milk co-operatives would have a robust effect on rural development. The small farmers of Kosovo isolated in various parts of the country would have gained the strength to sustain their livelihood. The cooperatives would have provided gainful employment and brought them close to the market. The ideal conditions for long term growth in procurement would have been created.
The ripple effect of this project would be as under:

- Modern technologies in animal breeding and feeding would be adopted by a significant number of farmers.
- Modern consumer processing and marketing facilities would be created all over the country.
- Technical input services including animal insemination, balanced cattle feed / bypass proteins feed, better fodder varieties and emergency veterinary health services - would have a direct and hard hitting effect in raising and sustaining milk production and ensure a better quality of life in the villages.

Besides creating urban employment in dairy plants, marketing, transportation, distribution and ancillary industries, these dairy co-operatives would help the farmers with a sustainable rural employment programme.
A majority of the cooperative members would be marginal or small farmers who contribute their produce of milk at the cooperatives. For these contributors, the income derived from milk would prove to be their only regular cash flow. This would thus transform dairying into a major and sustainable economic activity in this region of the Balkans.
The Government would have to provide the initial nucleus fund to give a start to this Milk Cooperative, primarily to establish the storage and processing plants. After this the Government and bureaucratic involvement should me the minimum. The governing body of this Cooperative should be created out of the member farmers. Milk collection points would have to be made and the small farmer could sell his milk here. Basic milk testing facilities like the lactometer etc could be provided at these collection points so that the farmer gets the price according to his milk quality. From here Milk Grids need to be created and the Governing Body of the Cooperative arranges the transportation of this milk to a central storage and processing facility in Kosovo. After processing the milk the distribution and marketing facilities would have to be created . The confidence of the local consumers would have to be won by a effective and cutting-edge marketing campaign.

The conceptualisation and implementation of this scheme to establish Milk Co-operatives in Kosovo would entail the following:

1. Milk collection points:
To establish milk collection points, certain centrally located points would have to be selected in the various regions of Kosovo. The number of collection points in each region would depend upon the density and distribution of the small and marginal bovine farmers. Each collection point could be a self contained unit consisting of one Supervisor and two workers. These three personnel should have the minimum training about milk quality testing including the simple procedure to assess milk fat percentage. In order to reduce infrastructure costs, it would be advisable to hire a private contractor who could provide one Milk Collection Van per Collection Point. It can be appreciated that the establishment of the Milk Collection Point would not cost much . It can operate out of a one room accomodation.

2. Central Milk Storage & Processing Facility
From the milk collection points , all the Milk Collection Vans would bring milk everyday to the Central Milk Storage and Processing facility. Here the milk would be homogenised , pasturised and packed in tetra packs. Any of the old milk processing plants can be taken over and refurbished for this task. As of now, only the tetrapacked milk could be manufactured at these plants, but as time goes by and profits start pouring in, the activities could be diversified to Cream , Cheese, Chocalates, Butter and Icecream.

3. Marketing and Accounts Division
After the milk has been processed and packed at the Central Processing Facility, it would be marketed by this division to the various outlets in Kosovo under a National Brand Name, that can be decided.
The profits from this project would be ploughed back into the project .The Governing Body, made out of the Small and Marginal Farmers would oversee the operations of this project and the success of this project would be the success of every single farmer who is the member of this Milk Co-operative.

4. Veterinary Assistance

The Government Veterinarians along with the United Nations Veterinary Doctors could provide veterinary cover to the Bovines . After the initiation of this project the farmer would be deeply concerned about the health, hygiene and efficient output from his animals, as he would have a stake in the success of the co-operative. Therefore this would lead to efficient and operationally sound Veterinary and Animal Husbandry practices.
The snow balling effect of the success of this project would lead to a situation where the poor farmer would finally have a economic muscle which would ramify into the financial stability of the entire region. The ancillary industries connected to this project would benefit and would create gainful employment in Kosovo , that would stand it is good stead in the days to come. The success of this project would infuse a strong sense of national pride as the brand name of the products would have a strong link to the national identity of Kosovo.
It is envisaged that on the success of this project one would no longer see the ubiquitous presence of the foreign Milk brands in the markets of Kosovo.

The milk cooperatives would have a major role to play in nation building and would give this country a stable income generation that would benefit the urban and rural social fabric of Kosovo.

About the Author:
Dr Sudhakar Natarajan
Deputy Commandant
Veterinary Officer,Indo Tibetan Border Police
India"