Dairy cows in Tanzania. The East Africa Dairy Development project has received a USD1.5 million grant to support dairy development in the country (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu).

The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project, a regional dairy industry development program, has received USD1.5 million grant from Elanco Animal Health to support on-going dairy development work in Tanzania and East Africa.

According to a 3 March 2015 article published in Business Wire online, Elanco’s grant ‘will help support Phase II [of the project], expanding EADD into Tanzania while continuing to work with smallholders in Kenya and Uganda.’

The EADD project, which is led by Heifer International in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), TechnoServe, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the African Breeders Service Total Cattle Management, empowers smallholder dairy producers in East Africa to move from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods by increasing their milk production and improving collecting, preserving and transporting of milk to the marketplace.

‘Phase II efforts will focus on developing sustainable collection hubs, advancing gender equity for women farmers, and replicating successes achieved to date. Smallholders will learn about and engage new technologies and practices around fodder production, alternative energy sources and milk transport systems.’

This second phase of the project aims to increase dairy farmers’ income by 100%, increase the number of women supplying milk to hubs by 30% and see the number of women with access to and control over productive assets go up by 30%.

Read the full story Elanco supports East Africa Dairy Development Project with $1.5 million matching challenge.

Written by Mercy Becon, communication specialist with ILRI in Tanzania.