Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 Jan. '99

Research has established that a cow can produce an average of 262 litres of milk a month which can be sold for 153,600 cedis, Dr Gyiele Nurah, a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi has said. He was presenting a paper on "Dairy Marketing'' at a one- day seminar for smallholders of the Peri-Urban Dairy Industry in Kumasi yesterday. Animal farming, especially milking of all species of cows, should not be neglected in Ghana's bid to alleviate poverty, he said. Dr Nurah said local species of cows provide between 50 and 70 gallons of milk within 70 and 100 days of lactation. The white Fulani cow produces 270 gallons of milk between 150 and 200 days of lactation while Dairy breeds also produce between 350 and 750 gallons in 305 days of lactation. Dr J. Mathias, also of the KNUST, said ''marketing of milk links producers to consumers while it adds value to the milk to enable farmers to earn more income, thereby improving their living conditions''. The seminar, on the theme "Improving production, marketing mechanisms and reducing public health risks in peri-urban Dairy production", was organised by KNUST's Department of Animal Science of the Faculty of Agriculture. It is a three-year project sponsored by Natural Resources International (NRI), an NGO, based in the United Kingdom (UK) at a cost of 143 pounds sterling. The demand driven project has the overall objective of increasing peri-urban Dairy production by removing obstacles like poor processing, poor marketing mechanisms and identifying consumer preferences.