Heifer International’s Zambia office is proud to announce Zambia’s first annual dairy forum in Lusaka on December 20, 2012. The Heifer Zambia office was approached by the organizers to put together a presentation and develop strategies for making this dairy forum successful in achieving two significant objectives under the theme of “Dairy for nutrition, incomes and job creation.”
Heifer Zambia Fisenge Dairy Cattle Project participant. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International.
The Government of Zambia would like to get input that will contribute to livestock development policies currently under development. Additionally, they would like for the stakeholders in attendance to provide key priority areas that will promote rapid growth in the dairy sector, meeting or exceeding the country’s great potential in this area.
Four agencies will support the coordination of the agenda for this event alongside Heifer Zambia. They include representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Agriculture Consultative Forum, Dairy Association of Zambia and SNV.
Together these agencies are at the forefront of dairy sector development in Zambia, and Heifer Zambia is proud to be a part of this momentous occasion with key presentations to include:
- Historical Perspectives and Current Status of the Performance and Competitiveness of the Dairy Sub Sector in Zambia by Prof. Pandey (GART)
- Government Policy, Incentives and Programs Supporting the Diary Industry by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock
- Dairy Sub Sector Challenges and Opportunities; Community and women empowerment in the dairy sub sector: Challenges and opportunities by Heifer International
- Private-Public Partnerships in the Dairy Sub Sector by World Food Program
- Dairy Markets for Smallholder Farmers: Innovations, Opportunities and Challenges by MUSIKA
This event is strictly by invitation only and will take place in the Government Complex, Lusaka, Zambia.
It is time Heifer Zambia came out of it s shell to aggressively participate in this conference. There is so much that the organization has done towards uplifting the standard of living of the rural poor. On the ground,the name Heifer is some how associated with hope.Indeed like the founder Dan West thought of calling the first three Heifers which landed on the Island of Puerto Rico almost 60 years ago-Hope,Faith and Charity,people generally have acknowledged that the Passing On The Gifts strategy will always leave everlasting Hope especially among the rural people especially women.Lives are being transformed and family relationships are improving,incomes are improving and the general welfare of the people is improving in the communities which have had an encounter with Heifer Programmes. As a way foreward,the Government of the Republic of Zambia should just adopt the method Heifer International is using in caring for the environment, and in the process getting rid of hunger and poverty.Tanzania used the strategy and it has worked for them.
Congratulation Heifer International for accepting this invitation and we hope to hear positive results from parliament when delegates meet the politicians in January.Just one last point.We have to encourage the Zambian Government to invest in Livestock Research and just making sure the Animal Husbandry Component is give a lot of attention. We have tried to solve livestock production through animal disease approach, we seem to be hitting a blank.This time around let us get back to the 70s when we had all kinds of livestock schemes-poultry,dairy,beef etc.
How manny families will be efeect in this project?
Thank you for your question, Clement. This story is not about a specific Heifer project, it is about an opportunity that the Heifer Zambia office had to inform and influence the National Dairy sub-sector in Zambia. By attending and speaking at this national forum, they were able to share how Heifer International’s development approach works best with livestock while shedding some light on the constraints and opportunities that impact our ability to improve the livelihoods of rural families in the country. The extensive experience of Heifer Zambia has provided them with a vantage point that is invaluable in these forums. As advocates of the smallholder farmer, Heifer Zambia took this opportunity to share lessons learned and best practices with a forum that has the authority and mandate to improve the National Dairy sub-sector and more broadly the livestock development policies that impact the ability of Heifer International to make impact at the household level with livestock-centered interventions.