Besides putting degraded field under fodder production/semipermanent vegetation cover, the association will be helped to adopt artificial insemination as part of its livestock breeding programme to improve milk production as a source of livelihood. Linkages will be established with other local CBOs that are into milk processing as a marketing strategy.
Like most CBOs in the mountain districts, Thaba Tseka Beef and Dairy Farmers Association lacks capacity to formulate a project proposal and project management. In addition, Association members still import animal feed from outside the district and even from neighboring South Africa. Furthermore, there is no central milk collection point/center in the district resulting in unnecessary wastages. Through engagement of a consultant the grantee will be taken through the process of project proposal formulation. Embedded in the proposal will be a series of training including among others, project management, budget tracking, bookkeeping and record keeping and leadership and conflict management. Through substantial co-financing, a central collection center will be constructed and requite training on its management provided for, through also educational tours and engagement on on-going dairy production forums and networks that the grantee is already a member of.
Linkages gef projects
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Planning gef grant
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Policy Influence
Thaba Tseka Beef and Dairy Association is among the associations that have received equipment for establishment of the first milk collection centre in the District of Thaba Tseka. This was done in fulfilment of government's initiative to stimulate dairy development in the country as it has been declared a priority for food security. This has increased the network of milk collection centres in the country an inherently, production of milk.
Project sustainability
Thaba-Tseka Beef and Dairy Farmers Association has established good relationships with the office of the District Agricultural Office which provides technical support to the Association. In a similar manner, the Association has the support of the other relevant stakeholders such as the Urban Council and the Town Clerk, the Environment Office, Rural Self-help Development Association (RSDA) and the Lesotho National Dairy Board for strengthened networking that will secure sustainability of the Association?s activities. The milk storage facility will reduce the wastages that had been one of the major impediments to growth of the dairy business for the dairy farmers.
Policy Impact
The Government of Lesotho has declared the dairy industry a priority for food security, and several initiatives are underway to stimulate dairy development. Among them is building the capacity of farmers and associations through their organization into enterprise-based associations in order to transform the country's agri-food system. To this end, through the Lesotho National Dairy Board, the government of Lesotho is planning to establish milk collection centers in districts, on the basis of the readiness of the respective districts. With the proposed intervention will place the district of Thaba Tseka very high in the list of those ready to receive the necessary support to establish milk collection Centre, thereby contributing to the national objective of sustainable commercial agriculture and food security (NSDP II: KPI 1 Immediate Outcome 1.2)
Replication of project activities
The envisaged plan is to expand fodder production through sharecropping with local farmers who are not member of the Association to increase the acreage of cropland under permanent cover and productive use. Negotiations are underway with potential famers.
Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
The main medium of instruction during the process for elaboration of the project proposal was Sesotho, the local and official language. Because of the lack of capacity for formulation of project proposals, a planning grant was embedded into the grant awarded to allow for a baseline phase during which a consultant was engaged to guide the organization through the process of proposal elaboration. The process includes targeted interviews and focused meetings and general community meetings (lipitso) conducted in the village setting and convened by local authorities, where the environmental problem was defined and consensus reached on the prioritized possible interventions to address identified environmental challenges.
Notable Community Participation
The proposed project will encourage more participation of young farmers and women in engaging in projects that add value to the milk (processing of milk to various dairy products). This will be particularly attractive as there will be milk storage facility in Thaba-Tseka and milk will be available. The Farmers Association is looking at processing milk to produce milk products such as yoghurt and cheese in the long-run and market linkages have been established with Bokamoso Youth Cooperative Society to buy milk for production of yoghurt from Thaba-Tseka Beef and Dairy Farmers Association. This demonstrates a wider inclusion of other groups in the industry both directly and indirectly.
Gender Focus
The proposed project will encourage more participation of young farmers and women in engaging in projects that add value to the milk (processing of milk to various dairy products). This will be particularly attractive as there will be milk storage facility in Thaba-Tseka and milk will be available. The Farmers Association is looking at processing milk to produce milk products such as yoghurt and cheese in the long-run and market linkages have been established with Bokamoso Youth Cooperative Society to buy milk for production of yoghurt from Thaba-Tseka Beef and Dairy Farmers Association. This demonstrates a wider inclusion of other groups in the industry both directly and indirectly.
Inovative Financial Mechanisms
With the support from GROW and relevant line ministries, the CBO shall document the success stories for dissemination in the district as well as at national level through various media platforms. The media platforms include community radio where the Association will obtain a slot to talk about the activities while at the same time marketing their business. GEF SGP platform will also be used to share experiences In addition, the Association will organize field days as another platform for sharing knowledge with the communities and encourage replication of best practices in land management for sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, the Farmers Association will participate in district as well as national events organized by government departments as well as NGOs, to establish networks and share knowledge and experiences. The district national events include agricultural shows and other events that aim to promote the activities of smallholder farming.
Project Results
1. Through awarding of a planning grant the organization was able to elaborate its project concept into a well elaborated project proposal, equipped with project management skills hence implementation was completed within the specified time.
2. The membership of the organization has undergone a series of training including leadership and conflict resolution, record keeping and business management, dairy project management (13 women, 10 men) with the result that there is cohesion and harmony among members.
3. Strong linkages have been established with Rural Self-help Development Association (RSDA), a beneficiary of the SGP-MPP innovation programme, thus benefiting from the Mountain Partnership Products activities.
4. Through trainings and technical backstopping provided by the Department of Livestock of the ministry of Agriculture and RSDA, the organization was able to put in place, requisite infrastructure to qualify for inclusion in the government initiative for dairy production development. Thus, the organization has received, from the Lesotho National Dairy Board, a 2,500 litre Milk Tank (USD 7000), and accessories to set up the first milk collection Centre in Thaba Tseka District.
5. Through a network of Thaba Tseka Grantees, a market avenue has been established with a youth cooperative that is engaged in milk processing for income generation.
6. Veld burning has been identified as a major threat to rangelands in the district. Organization members received fire management training from the Department of Range Resources, acquired fire management equipment and conducted awareness campaigns among local communities jointly with peer grazing associations that are also SGP grantees. The impact of the campaigns is yet to be seen.
7. A collective figure of about 13 ha of marginal cropland has been put under fodder production. Annual harvest and overall effect on the status of the cropland, cost for livestock feeding is yet to be established.
