Milk to Market: low-cost methods to pasteurize milk in East Africa
Remote rural farmers with dairy livestock have an acute problem getting their milk to market since unpasteurized milk spoils quickly in warm climates. Pasteurized milk spoils in as little as four hours in 30°C temperatures. To limit spoiling, farmers in East Africa must bring their fresh milk to a chilling plant immediately after milking. For rural farmers, this is simply not possible – they live too far away. Milking typically occurs twice a day (morning and evening), and some farmers sell their milk to milk collectors who come by bicycle typically in the mornings. Many farmers want to sell some or all of their evening milk, but there is no way for them to bring it to market before it spoils. Focusing on Uganda and Western Kenya, D-Rev explored ways for farmers to preserve their milk overnight so it could be sold to the morning milk collectors.
From D-Rev's testing and analysis of the milk customer chain, we found that the plastic jerry can, which is widely used as a low-cost storage vessel, is a primary source of contamination. It is difficult to clean thoroughly and bacteria inside the handle and along the seams causes fresh milk to rapidly spoil.
Working with partners, D-Rev is exploring three interventions that will help bring rural farmers' milk to market:
- Low temperature pasteurization on the farm using a simple kitchen thermometer and the farmer's stove
- Cleaning storage and transport containers with a low cost chlorine bleach, which can be made with a salt water solution and an electro-chlorinator
- Cold pasteurization of milk at "aggregation points" (where farmers and milk collectors meet to exchange milk) using UV-C ionizing radiation.
Reports
Milk to Market Report: A study of low-cost milk sterilization in East Africa
