A dairy supply chain for nutritious yogurt
Ethiopia has 12 million dairy cows, but a lack of infrastructure prevents much of the milk from reaching consumers. The goal of the GAIN project is to build a sustainable dairy chain in partnership with small farmers and local dairies. As the main business partner, our mission at Arla Foods Ingredients is to equip dairies with the ability to produce safe and nutritious affordable yogurt for sale in Ethiopian markets and stalls.
This yogurt recipe contains our whey permeate - an ingredient rich in milk minerals and lactose - to maximize the dairy's yogurt yield and ensure the yogurt has great taste and texture.
Our project partners Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Danish Church Aid are building other key links in the supply chain. This includes working with farmers to improve their milk quality and production, and raising public awareness of the importance of good nutrition, especially for children and pregnant or nursing mothers. The Confederation of Danish Industry is also contributing to this business model.
GAIN Nordic launched the project after completing an impact assessment of the Ethiopian dairy industry. This assessment includes the development of a tool for identifying and avoiding potential negative impacts.
The GAIN for better dairy project is supported by Denmark’s development cooperation agency, the Danish International Development Agency (Danida). In 2021, Danish International Development Agency provided two years of additional funding to allow project partners to further investigate possibilities for increasing milk utilization, reducing food waste and developing greener business models. Detailed case descriptions are available for download. The models developed through this project are fully documented and suitable for transfer to other markets.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
This project targets SDG 2.1/2.3, 8.2/8.4 and 12.3.
From papaya scraps to dried fruit snacks
Vitamin-rich papaya is the main source of income for more than 890,000 small-scale farmers in Ethiopia, but currently 30% of the harvest is lost due to spoilage. If a portion of this nutritious fruit could be preserved and sold as an affordable dried papaya snack, it would be of great benefit to farmers, food industry job creation, and low-income families suffering from widespread malnutrition .
We are participating in a public-private partnership project to establish a supply chain to convert papaya waste into commercially viable dried fruit protein bars. As product innovation partner, our role is to develop recipes and transfer the necessary processing techniques to local manufacturers.
The collaborative project is led by GAIN and includes Addis Ababa University, three Ethiopian food producers and a local agricultural engineering company. The Confederation of Danish Industry is responsible for developing viable business models.
The Danish International Development Agency (Danida) Market Development Cooperation Program funded the project.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
This project targets SDG 2.1, 8.2/8.4 and 12.3.
Protein-Rich Cookies Collaboration
The Sustainable Food Partnership is a collaboration between Ala Food Ingredients, Danish Church Relief , Novozymes and other companies to develop new affordable nutrition concepts and share relevant knowledge and expertise. The current focus is on a project to develop protein-rich biscuits in Ethiopia. Produced by a manufacturer in Addis Ababa, the cookies contain protein from locally grown chickpeas, quinoa, and whey protein as a source of dairy nutrients. Following delays caused by COVID-19, the biscuits are planned to be available in 2022. P4G, a global forum supporting public-private partnerships focused on accelerating sustainable development, is supporting the project. P4G has previously funded the partnership’s Sustainable Food Platform initiative to promote local production of nutritious food for people in and around refugee camps.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
This project targets SDG 2.1/2.3 and 17.17.
