Tag Archives: dairy

Moving the Poverty Continuum in Armenia

Posted on by
1

by Pietro Turilli 

Armenia is a small country located between Georgia in the north and Iran to the South.   After gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has faced a lot of difficulties including a plunging economy and an armed conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno Karabakh region. A cease fire was reached in 1994 and things began to stabilize.  
After several years of double-digit economic growth, Armenia, like a majority of countries worldwide, had to face the global economic recession of 2008. Armenia’s GDP declined 15% in 2009 and the proportion of Armenians living in poverty reached 28.4%. 

In addition, about 50 percent of poor people live in rural areas. The unemployment rate is particularly high in these areas, and the main source of income here is horticulture and animal husbandry.

We visited Lernagog village in Armavir region to learn more about ongoing projects which have provided some 130 families with dairy cows. The village lost its sole employer when the local mill closed at the end of the Soviet era, and most families remain without regular income and are trapped by the lack of economic opportunities. One family in particular, the Avetisyan family, received one pregnant heifer. After the birth, they now benefit from about 10 liters of milk per day, which they consume in the form of fresh milk, cheese and yogurt. The family has four children who now have improved nutrition in their diet.
Our team also visited projects in the Arpi and Areni villages in the Vayotz Dzor region.  The Melkonyans are a family of 6.  As is the case with many families here, the Melkonyans are unemployed and the only source of income is their son’s temporary construction work. The family has received one pregnant heifer in 2008 and now is going to pass on its first offspring in the fall of 2011. From the cow, they consume fresh milk, cheese and yogurt for all the members of the family. Sometimes they have a little extra and manage to sell some milk or cheese to generate extra income.

But where do we go from here? The Avetisyans — and many other families we met with in Armenia — want to move beyond subsistence farming and create income opportunities through the sale of milk to the local milk collection centre. For this, they need to increase their stock of dairy cows, improve barn and milking facilities and enhance their technical knowledge.

Heifer Armenia is now developing follow-up initiatives to link families to markets. In the immediate case of the Lernagog community, the team is developing a partnership with one of the main milk processing enterprises in the country. Heifer will provide access to additional animals and technical assistance, while the enterprise will collect milk from the families supported by Heifer. The end result will be families with a regular source of income, with an enterprise that is able to continue growing sustainably through the provision of locally-produced milk.

Why is this important? Heifer works with with poor families to build their capacities and link them to sustainable markets. We call this moving along the poverty continuum, and it empowers these families to go from not having enough to eat to being able to support themselves.

This means people, families and communities that are no longer poor.
 

Pietro Turilli is vice president for Central and Eastern Europe programs at Heifer International. He was accompanied on his recent project visits by Cathy Sanders, vice president of philanthropy, and Paul Yeghiayan, associate director of philanthropy.

A Bit About Heifer Kenya

Posted on by
1

I’ve been a bit out of pocket, haven’t I? After our day of meetings, we traveled to Nairobi with our Heifer Kenya colleague, Alex. I accidentally slept until 8 this morning and had to rush to grab breakfast. While Pierre met with USAID Kenya, he gave Dero and me some time to be tourists. Another colleague, Francis, took us to the animal orphanage and the Giraffe Centre. It was a real treat! After finally eating some traditional food, we headed to the Heifer Kenya office.

I absolutely love going to work at headquarters in Little Rock, but if I worked at this office, I don’t think I’d ever leave. The grounds are lush and lovely, and I think I’d insist on meetings outside in the shade. The buildings are small, older and charming.


Heifer Kenya office.


Pierre’s tree

The staff is so welcoming. This afternoon we have met with the Heifer Kenya staff, learning more about what they do here and putting faces to names I’ve heard before. It is such a shame, though, that I didn’t get to see the projects with Pierre at the start of last week.


Pierre discussing economies of scale and diversifying revenue.

In the short time here, I’ve learned about a pretty interesting technology. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s using solar panels to make ice… Crazy, huh? Here’s the thing–say you’re a dairy farmer in rural Kenya, and you have some cows to milk. If you take your surplus milk to a collection station or a chilling plant for it to be sold to a processor, you might only be able to make that journey once a day. Well, cows have to be milked twice a day, and with no refrigeration, you may be missing out on capturing income from the evening milking. Many farmers in this situation sell all of the morning milk, and their families wait to drink milk until the evening. Makes sense. But what if you have several cows?

Stay tuned, and I’ll dig further into this. Heifer Kenya has two of these solar ice units in use, and I really want to learn more about it.

Changing the Way We Look at Rural Development

Posted on by
0

We all know for sure that Heifer’s model works. Millions and millions of farmers and families have increased their standard of living many times over. Seeing it firsthand is amazing; according to Sahr Libbee, VP of the Africa program, it’s addictive. I think I understand why, now.

For one thing, this landscape is amazing. It’s a paradise, and I could totally live here.
But, really, I think what it has to do with is seeing Heifer’s model working, yet also seeing how much more there is to do. Pierre, coming from a strong business background, has a talent for asking the right questions. He asks almost everyone we meet with, “What are the problems you continue to face?” “What would make this easier for you?” and “How can we expand upon what you’re doing to make it even more profitable and longer lasting?”
The answers he receives are incredibly interesting. They need better marketing skills. They need more trained service providers. More aluminum milk containers. Better roads so they can get the milk to the chilling plants faster. A strategy for maintaining steady prices for their milk, in the face of a dairy processing monopoly. Better access to clean water. More micro-finance opportunities.
Once you’re here, you can’t help but want to try to fix each of their problems right away. If I had the capacity to do so, I would personally fix these crazy roads (I know, I know, they’re way better than in Kenya and many other places, but they’re certainly the worst I’ve ever seen.)
It’s going to take even more that the great work that Heifer does to really move these people all the way out of poverty.
The good news? Each of these issues is resolvable. The better news? Heifer is learning that many of these issues are but growing pains associated with scaling up the Heifer model and looking at it as an investment model, instead of solely a community development one. Seeing the East Africa Dairy Development Project’s (EADD) successes and challenges, Heifer is now better positioned to help meet all of the needs listed above.
Yes, improving the nutriton and income of 13.6 million people is amazing. But we live in a different world from that of Heifer’s founder, Dan West. To truly end hunger and poverty, Heifer must look for opportunities to expand upon the model we all know and love; starting with helping farmers with entrepreneurial spirit enter the marketplace in a more substantial way.
What do you think? What are other ideas for ways Heifer can deepen its impact?

Pierre Ferrari Samples Local Yogurt

Posted on by
0

I took so much video yesterday. We went to three meetings and visited two participant households, and I just about recorded everything. I can’t quite even explain how exciting it was to finally see our work in action. And watching Pierre interact with folks–from the USAID officials at the United States Embassy, to exuberant farm families who are were so excited to see and meet him–was a lot of fun, too. He’s clearly in his element, and I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to.

The village we visited has been participating in Heifer’s projects since 2005. They started with dairy cattle, and now they are part of the Uganda Domestic Biogas Programme. I want to do them justice, so I’m going to save the rest of the story (and video!) for a bit later. But, to give you an idea of how entrepreneurial our participants are, here is a short video of a participant who has started his own yogurt business. He uses milk from the local cows, hand packages it himself and sells it.

I truly wish you all could be here to see these families. This morning we are headed to visit a milk chilling plant that is part of the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project. I’m excited about this, as the changes in Dero’s and my travel plans caused us to miss visiting EADD participants in Kenya with Pierre. As we were parting ways last night, Pierre said, “Today you saw Heifer at it’s best. Tomorrow, you will see Heifer’s future.”

Follow Our Journey

Posted on by
0

Hi, there. This is Brooke Edwards, one of the writers at Heifer’s headquarters in Little Rock. You’re about to be hearing from me a lot, so I thought I’d go ahead and introduce myself.

I’ve been a Heifer fan for about as long as I can remember. I first did the overnight Global Village experience at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, AR, when I was 13 years old. I started volunteering when I was 21, and that’s even how I met my husband. So you might imagine that being a writer for Heifer is a dream come true for me. You’d be right.

And soon, I’ll be taking it to the next level. This Sunday, I leave for my first trip to the field to visit some of our East Africa Dairy Development projects in Kenya and Uganda. Along with professional photographer, Dero Sanford, I will be documenting our trip with Heifer’s new CEO, Pierre Ferrari, as we discover what’s been working for these projects and also what challenges they still face.

I’m thrilled to be going, and I hope you’ll follow along with me here. I’ll be in a unique position to get your questions asked, since I’ll be visiting with our CEO, program staff, field staff and project participants.

The Gates Foundation: How Heifer is Making a Difference

Posted on by
2

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released their 2010 agriculture project progress reports and prominently among them is the Heifer International East Africa Dairy Development project. This project received a 42.8 million dollar grant from the Gates Foundation and is aimed at doubling the incomes of thousands of East African farmers in ten years.

Watch the video below to see the inspiring work of this project and read the progress report to learn more about how Heifer is working with the Gates Foundation and local project partners to change the lives of 179,000 farmers in East Africa.

Frontina Came at Just the Right Time

Posted on by
1
by Christian DeVries


Sebastian Alvarado-Brizuela with one of the cows (named Frontina) that he received from Heifer

When Sebastian came home to find that his wife had left him and abandoned their four children he was shocked. He didn’t know what to do. Sebastian had been working at a dairy far from home, but his youngest son was only nine months old. He couldn’t leave them and go back to work.

The little money that Sebastian had saved quickly ran out. He had no money, no animals and no prospects. He eventually began to ask his neighbors for food. It was a humiliating experience. After three months Sebastian had lost all hope that things would get better.

What he didn’t know was that women in his community had requested that he be included in their project with Heifer International. Sebastian smiles when he thinks about what these women did for him. “The women of my community spoke up for me. They said, ‘He is both father and mother to his children.’”

Two months after being accepted into the group Sebastian received a cow, which he named Frontina. Heifer’s assistance came at just the right time. Sebastian had milk to give his young children and manure to grow vegetables so he could feed his family.

Now seven years later his family is thriving. “I now feel very proud. Before when I came home there was nothing here, but now we have everything. I am content,” Sebastian said.


Christian DeVries is interviewing project participants in Honduras on behalf of Heifer International. This is the first in a series of posts he will be sending from the field.

Heifer’s Superwoman

Posted on by
0

Photo by Dave Anderson
I dare you to find a Heifer participant who has done more for her family, her village, her Heifer dairy cows and farm education throughout her country and Africa than Huruma Mhapa of Ibumila village in the Njombe district of Tanzania.
In July 1993, after living in poverty in a small mud hut with her family, she received one dairy cow from Heifer International and its partner, the Anglican Church of Tanzania, and was trained in the zero-grazing method. Today, she’s a university lecturer in rural agriculture, farms 11 acres (six of them designated for cow feed only, five to feed her family) and cares for four dairy cows, all descendants of that first cow. She and her husband built a brick house with a concrete floor and a solid roof, a Heifer Tanzania 2010 calendar and numerous awards proudly displayed on her walls.
From 2002 to the present, she has trained about 4,000 farmers directly, including those from Heifer projects in other countries including Malawi and Kenya. Another 5,000 people have visited her farm to learn about zero grazing and organic farming.
Shown above, Huruma harvests the grasses she feeds her cows, which include several varieties of grass and fodder that contribute both protein and carbohydrates to their diet. Her cows, which are fat, glossy and sassy, are fed three times a day with the nutritious feed. She collects their manure and urine to compost for fertilizer and to convert to biogas to use for cooking and to power lights. She also sells the grasses and processed leaf meal she grows to other cow farmers. She milks the three oldest twice a day, keeping some milk for her children and selling the rest as part of the co-op in her village.
Among what she produces on her farm are: Maize, milk, calves, vegetable gardens, leaf meal from fodder trees, mushrooms, hay from rhodes grass, yogurt from milk processing, beans, wheat, Irish potatoes, bananas, guavas, plums and lime.
She says, only partially joking, that she loves her dairy cows more than her own children. You’ll see for yourself how much she adores them when you see what she’s working on for them right now, but I’ll save that for our World Ark article.

Maasai Women Milk a Camel

Posted on by
0

Donna Stokes is managing editor for Heifer International’s magazine, World Ark. The past two weeks she’s shared experiences from her visit to projects in Tanzania. You can read her previous posts here.

We have our hard-working Heifer staff to thank for meeting us late at the office in Mbeya in south-central Tanzania so we could upload this video I promised of Maasai women milking a camel. The women’s group received the camels about a year and a half ago. Some of the first training they received was on milking, and a special process they use to naturally preserve and pasteurize the milk.

Video by Dave Anderson