SOURCING & WATERSHED The Alban Baladna project helps farmers in Egypt develop their businesses. The project has set up and renovated 9 milk collection centers and 23 milk collection points offering a various number of services to farmers: from logistical support and agricultural services, to trainings in order to develop the technical know-how crucial to earning a sustainable income.
In Egypt, although smallholder farmers produce 80% of the national milk supply, they are in a very weak position and unable to defend their interests. Milk prices are low, volatile and lack transparency.
With the support of the Danone Ecosystem, Danone Egypt and its local partner CARE Egypt, the Alban Baladna project is setting up new collection centers and renovating existing ones to meet new quality standards and support smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods, agricultural practices and commercial relationships.
Teams are trained in the milk hubs to carry out quality monitoring and manage the provided services. Indeed, thanks to those centers, farmers have access to discounted bulk quality feed, veterinary services, water trough deployment etc. They also have the opportunity to be trained in hygiene, milking, animal welfare and organization.
Because of this infrastructure, farmers are producing more and better quality milk. The rejection rates have dropped by a factor of three from the previous year, and farmers can secure stable market access thanks to long term contracts.
The project also pays special attention to empowering women: 80% of smallholder dairy farmers in Egypt are women, so building their capacities is key for the development of sustainable farming models. The project team has recruited 24 women to become community leaders: these women are trained in several technical areas, and can then access families in their community to disseminate the knowledge.
The Alban Baladna project therefore strengthens dairy farming in Egypt and fosters rural development, while securing quality milk production for the clients of the milk collection centers, including Danone.
Under the photography, some of the project's ambitions.
The Danone Ecosystem Alban Baladna project won the 2022 GEEIS-SGD [Gender equality & diversity for European and International standard - Sustainable Developement Goals] award for its solutions addressing social, environmental and economic chalenges in Egypt. To discover the press release : [CLICK HERE]
in co-funding
Family members benefiting from increased or secured revenues
T of milk/month collected from the project
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