Informal Milk and Dairy Markets in Syria: ICARDA explores pathways out of poverty

Milk and dairy products, particularly cheese, are an integral component of diets in the Levant. High demand for these products, particularly in village markets, represents an important source of livelihoods for poor people.

To gain a better understanding of how the informal, small-scale dairy industry works and the constraints poor dairy producers face, ICARDA economists took a closer look at milk and dairy production in the Khanasser valley, near Aleppo, Syria. The objective was to identify entry points for technology transfer, while encouraging small-scale entrepreneurs to produce value-added foodstuffs that help to increase rural incomes and reduce poverty.

Woman selling cheese in Khanasser Valley, Syria.

They studied 44 villages in Khanasser valley, and documented local institutional arrangements and mechanisms relating to sheep milk production and processing. Using qualitative and quantitative measures, they analyzed the terms of arrangements between traders and dairy sheep producers covering the entire spectrum of milk collection, delivery, processing and marketing.

The results were instructive.
Small producers collectively process their milk through external cheese makers-or jabbans-composed of women and men of a single family. Jabbans are mobile entrepreneurs, settling down in villages where milk production is important, or where sheep are temporarily raised in significant numbers, or where flocks from the steppe settle for grazing during the spring season. The survey showed that these local cheese making institutions provide important services to the poor, such as loans and handling small volumes of milk, which cannot be marketed otherwise, especially in the absence of a formal infrastructure and lack of access to markets.

The study also found that milk and dairy production activities are gender specific. Dairy production and processing is mainly done by women, with men handling marketing and loan provisions. This shows the need for gender-specific technological improvements in the dairy sheep sector in order to have a positive impact on women's well-being.

Combining indigenous knowledge with modern technology

To obtain farmers' perceptions and benefit from their knowledge, ICARDA organized a visit of the Khanasser valley farmers, both men and women, to its dairy processing laboratories. Farmers saw that using a milking ramp could ease their workload, and witnessed the operation of a homestead milk processing plant that ensures hygienic and safe production of cheese and yogurt. Scientists demonstrated the use of commercial starters to improve the quality of yogurt and cheese products to meet consumer demand. The application of new feeding methods has the potential to increase productivity per ewe and per flock, and farmers were very interested in the low-cost feeding trials involving optimum feed composition and urea-treated straw for fattening of Awassi lambs.

Thanks to the study, potential entry points have been identified by ICARDA researchers for technological and development options to improve the dairy production and processing system in the valley and in similar marginal dry areas. The collaboration between ICARDA researchers, farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs to combine indigenous knowledge with modern technology will help improve the income of the village communities and reduce poverty in the region.

Photo Caption: Woman selling cheese in Khanasser Valley, Syria