On July 12th and 13th this year 23 dairy owners (and two smaller groups connected with one of them) held a meeting at the Maison du Retraité in Ouagadougou. As a rule each dairy was  represented by one worker  (a person who carries out the handling of the milk inside the dairy plant) and a cattle owner, who provides the milk for the dairy.

It should be noted that participants at the meeting came from 18 different locations: Ouagadougou, Poytenga, Boulsa, Fada N'Gourma, Bittou, Barkouba, Dori, Aribinda, Gorom-Gorom, Seba, Pa, Diébougou, Batié, Bobo-Dioulasso, Koudougou, Leo, Débé-Nyassan and Ouahigouya.

The newly formed Union of Mini-Dairies of Burkina Faso has been set up to help small scale cattle farmers. Therefore, a condition for membership is that the dairy must process milk from local herds (and not imported milk powder!), belonging at least in part, to small scale cattle owners, of the Fulani communities in particular. 

The first day of the meeting was taken up by the adoption of a Quality charter, in order to guarantee products of good standing. It includes various aspects of the process upstream, such as animal health, hygiene during milking, etc. The second part deals with processing, i.e. checking the quality of raw milk upon delivery at the dairy and appropriate handling to obtain healthy products of good quality. The charter was adopted unanimously at the end of day one. Some dairies are already following these procedures, others have yet to make some adjustments. The National Union will give them the necessary support and training. The Union also reckons with the assistance of the Ministry of Animal Ressources, in particular for aspects of animal health.

The following day participants discussed statutes and rules of procedure. They also elected the seven members of the executive committee. Mrs Korotoumou Gariko was unanimously elected President of the Union.

At the end of these two days, the joy of participants was manifest, in spite of the fatigue. Members were ready to get to work. Seven delegations already paid their membership fees on the spot, an expression of their determination to get the new Union up and running.

Long live the new National Union of Mini-Dairies of Burkina Faso

Long Live BurkinaLait !