EVALUATION OF PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, MARKETING AND QUALITY OF MILK IN GONDAR DISTRICT, NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

The huge and diverse livestock population, favorable climate for improved high-yielding cattle breeds, increasing demand for dairy products in urban and peri-urban areas and long-standing culture of dairy products consumption make Ethiopia to hold a substantial potential for dairy development. The study was conducted in Gondar district, North Gondar Zone of Amhara Regional State with the objectives: To assess milk production performance and production constraints, milking and processing practices, milk marketing and marketing constraints and to evaluate microbial and physicochemical quality of milk. A total of 6 potential kebels were selected purposively. About 180 respondents who have dairy cows and produce milk were selected randomly from the total households. The average milk yield of local and crossbreed cows was 2.32 and 7.99 liters per cow per day, respectively. The major constraints of milk production in the study area were feed shortage, shortage of land, disease, low milk yield of local cows and lack of market access. About 82.78% of respondents practiced milk processing in to different milk products.. In the current study, farmers practice informal marketing system where they sell their milk and milk products to neighbors’ or the local markets. The overall mean fat, protein, total solids, ash and solids-not-fat (SNF) contents of local cows’ milk in the study area were 4.75, 3.06, 13.73, 0.66, and 8.97 percent, respectively. Whereas the overall mean fat, protein, total solids, ash and SNF contents of crossbred cows’ milk were 4.16, 3.34, 12.70, 0.65 and 8.53 percent, respectively. The overall mean total bacterial count and Coliform count of milk in the study area were 7.35±0.89log10cfu/ml and 4.25±0.93log10cfu/ml,respectively. In general, in Gondar district the demand for milk and milk products consumption was high but the milk yield of dairy cows cannot satisfy this demand. Milking and processing practiced in the study area were mostly based on traditional types and the microbiological quality of milk produced by individual farmers and dairy cooperatives was poor and this calls for rigorous hygienic measures to improve microbial quality of milk