Dairy Farming Programme

THE ELCT DAIRY CATTLE PROGRAMME
Brief by Patricia Mwaikenda
Coordinator, ELCT Dairy Cattle Programme

ELCT Dairy Cattle Project is responsible for:

1. Facilitation and Empowerment
2. Coordination Specific functions:
   • Organise dairy cattle seminars/workshops to enhance capacity building among stakeholders.
   • Initiate ideas and plan for ELCT Dairy Cattle Project.
   • Provide technical advice on dairy cattle management.
   • Visitation and follow-ups.
   • Communication reports to internal and external users. Dairy Farming:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania has been involved hand in hand with the Government in poverty alleviation programmes. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania evolved a Dairy Cattle Project with the view of purchasing and distributing pregnant heifers and bulls to poor families and assists them economically.

In addition assistance is provided in proper animal husbandry and improved nutrition that guarantees high milk roduction for an improved nutritional status and income generating activities in the families assisted.

The programme targets women, the handicapped, widows and the disadvantaged in general. A recipient of the heifer passes on a calf to his/her neighbour and the process goes on.

All the twenty Dioceses of ELCT have benefited from this project. Over 1,000 heifers original have been distributed with an addition of 2,500 "Pass on" heifers bringing to total of over 3,500 families assisted since the inception of the project in 1984. Apart from financial gains, general social, cultural and economic well being of the society the ELCT has noted significant community empowerment through restoring self-reliance and dignity to the people who had resigned to hopelessness and helplessness.

Most of our communities remain poor and needy. The demand for heifers continues to grow daily. Bright as the future for Dairy Cattle looks, there are several constraints that are seen to impair the success for operations of the project. The major ones are:

• Unavailability of heifers.
• Poor communication system in the rural areas resulting into milk marketing problems.
• Lack of milk processing plants.
• Insufficient training skills to both extension workers and farmers.

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