EDITORIAL: OVERHAUL DAIRY INDUSTRY FOR MUCH BETTER RESULTS

Experts have said that “a systemic change of the dairy industry in Tanzania is achievable”. This is in a country where livestock farming is part of the Tanzanian culture, and the dairy business is potentially a high-value sub-sector of the economy.

This is in an upcoming market where demand for packaged milk is, for example, significantly higher than current supply. The combined milk supply from Tanzania’s processing plants is less than 150,000 litres a day – and with only about five percent of that sold packaged in formal dairy markets, compared to Kenya next-door, where 40 percent of its milk is sold processed and packaged.

This is still not good enough for Tanzania, which has 34 million head of cattle, the third largest herd in Africa after Ethiopia and Sudan.

But, while Tanzania produces over 3.01 billion litres of milk a year, only about 2.7 percent of that perishable produce is processed into yoghurt, butter, cheese, etc., for the formal market. The rest is sold/consumed unpasteurized, unprocessed – and unregulated... Or left to perish.

Given this unsatisfactory scenario, some stakeholders in the sub-sector – as well as some development partners and well-wishers – have urged the government and its related institutions to find ways and means of formalising the dairy industry.

This is basically with the very noble objective of benefiting livestock-keepers and the country to the sub-sector’s fullest-possible potential. Indeed, Tanzania’s dairy industry is still lagging behind by far.

The dairy industry still needs massive transformation for it to benefit the country and its people as they rightly deserve.

In that regard, we are encouraged that the government has finally asked help from its development partners in modernizing the dairy business through improved facilities, capital, expertise, local value-addition/processing...

What is needed next is diligent, persistent following-up for timely, functional results.

WANTED: QUALITY PARENTING

Not everyone who walks the earth automatically qualifies to be a good parent. Being a good parent requires commitment, which means, one has to be armed with appropriate skills to nurture the life one brings to the world. In our typical African setting, there is always pressure on couples, more so the woman, to prove they have the biological ability to bear children.

However, there is hardly any preparation for young adults that puts them on the road to effective parenthood. Unprepared emotionally, financially and even socially, adults find themselves making a disaster out of family life, leading to misery for themselves and their offspring.

Good parenting is about providing a warm, secure home life, helping the children learn the basics of life and develop self-esteem. This applies to all parents, irrespective of one’s background and social bearing.

A parent’s contribution to the future generation should be carried out in a way that one does not leave behind an unsociable citizen, who might be of little use to himself or the society they live in. Responsible parenting, a rarity today, entails bringing up a child who develops to be, appreciably, a little better than the parent. It is a tough, but noble obligation.