Making an Impact with Milk in Africa

Workers setting up milk collection center

Working to Improve the Lives of Farmers and Families

In Uganda, Mueller employees have been working to set up about 100 milk collection centers, where milk is centrally collected, cooled, and stored under acceptable standards.

The Challenge

So here is the challenge: In some emerging dairy sectors in developing African countries, raw milk cannot be cooled at dairy farms due to lack of access to reliable electricity. This means much of the evening milk goes bad overnight in the heat. It is lost income for farmers and a widening gap between milk supply and milk demand. Post-harvest milk losses are estimated at 40%.

The Solution

Paul Mueller Company in the Netherlands is innovating multiple solutions to this problem through different stages of milk production. In Uganda, Mueller employees have been working to set up about 100 milk collection centers, where milk is centrally collected, cooled, and stored under acceptable standards. Typically farmers had to transport their milk far away to a processor in a bigger city. With the collection centers, farmers can bicycle their milk to the closest village where dairy co-ops are developing among small farmers. These co-ops allow farmers to not only make more income from their milk, but to also create positive foundational changes to their community infrastructure. As they struggle less for daily survival, farmers engage in new business ventures—like adding crops to their farm or re-building schools. The ripple effect helps increase access to food, jobs, and medical care and encourages young people to stay and continue to build prosperity.

Milk Jug Icon
Help in Creating a 100 Collection Centers for Cooling and Storing Milk
Spilled Milk Icon
Preventing a 40% Milk Loss with Cooling Technology
Jobs Icon
Help to Increase Food, Jobs, and Medical Care
Farmer transporting milk by bike