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Improved
market access and smallholder participation for sustainable dairy
development
Dairying represents one of the fastest returns for livestock keepers in the developing world. It provides regular returns to farmers, especially to women, enhances household nutrition and food security, creates off-farm employment – as many as one job for each 20 litres of milk processed and marketed. The highest growth in demand for milk and dairy products has been, and continues to be, in the Asia-Pacific region where dairy consumption has trebled since 1980, contributing nearly two-thirds of global consumption gains. However, while consumption has grown seven percent annually, gains have been uneven across the region. In many countries gains by dairy industry stakeholders have also been uneven and local production has not kept pace with demand. More recently, the prices of internationally traded dairy commodities, upon which many Asia countries still depend, have become very volatile and, in some cases, almost doubled. 
There are a number of successful models, and some not-so-successful, where smallholder dairy farmers have gained sustainable access to local markets. Given the clear opportunities for dairying in Asia, APHCA1 has asked FAO to develop a dairy development strategy for the Asia-Pacific region to lift the involvement of smallholders. The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) has agreed to fund a preparatory project to develop the strategy. The development objective of the project is: to improve the livelihoods of small-scale dairy farmers through increased productivity of their animals and improved participation in the supply and marketing of safe, better quality milk and dairy products in the Asia-Pacific region. This will result in an increase in the marketed output of milk and an associated increase in farm household's income. The project started in June 2007 and will cover selected APHCA member countries, plus North Korea and Vietnam. It is kicking off with a number of rapid lessons learned studies. Along with innovative experiences collected from other sources, these studies were synthesised and presented to the 31st APHCA session in Yangon, Myanmar in October 2007. Three in-depth dairy value chain studies will then be commissioned and the findings considered at a workshop to be held at Chiang Mai in Thailand in lateFebruary 2008. The information collected, and the outcome of the workshop, will be used to develop a regional strategy and funding proposal for CFC and other investors to sustainably improve smallholder dairy market access. 
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