Hargeisa (SLpost)- The Somaliland Government along with European Union, together with its implementing partners ICIPE and FAO, are launching a new milk sector project in Hargeisa that will support Somaliland’s food security and local industry.
Somaliland is currently importing the majority of its milk as powdered milk, in order to meet this increasing demand. However, with an economy largely based on livestock, the country has the potential to increase its local fresh milk production, mainly from camels and cattle, and to produce 80% of its consumption needs.
With an investment of 4 million EUR, the EU intends to support the sector’s value chain by focusing on institutional and sector capacity building, on animal health and on new marketing methods, also for women milk vendors. It should also put an end to the widespread milk losses caused by poor handling along the value chain.
“This project will boost the economy of our country by enhancing the local production. I thank the EU for funding this project,”said the Somaliland President Dr Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo at the launching ceremony held at Mansor Hotel in Hargeyusa.
“This project will support all the value chain actors in the milk sector and will provide a boost for employment creation in Somaliland,” said the EU Special Envoy, Michele Cervone d’Urso while launching the landmark project. “We expect the initiative to increase the income of more than 1.000 pastoralists and agro-pastoralists communities and to provide hygienic milk for more 50.000 households,” the envoy Added
The EU milk initiative will be implemented by the International Centre for Insect Ecology and Physiology (ICIPE) and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), working in coordination with the Somaliland Ministry of Livestock and the Quality Control Commission.