Health – CARE Egypt

10 years of milk collection centers

“Selling milk is considered a shameful act in rural areas of Upper Egypt. For locals, selling milk means that households are in need. Despite the shame, Nadia Mahmoud walked out to sell milk to the milk collection center (MCC) ten years ago in Halabeya village, Beni Suef, Upper Egypt. Day after day, selling milk has transformed Beni Suef to a leading governorate in the milk production business.
In her seventies, Nadia was not satisfied with the trader she used to deal with. The prices were too low. She used the surplus of milk that was not sold to make cheese for her household consumption. Although her sons work as milk traders, she prefers to sell milk to the local MCC. “I am one of the pioneers who started selling milk to the MCC and have been loyal to it since ever established ten years ago”, she says.
Today, Beni Suef produces 30 tons of milk per day instead of 5 tons with the beginning of the project and 200 KG before “Alban Baladna” CARE-Danone partnership.
Traders control prices. “With the trader, I am not sure what and when will I get my money. If the price of milk drops down on the day he pays me, he would pay me less than the price set when I sold him. If the price increases, I get paid the same amount on the day I sold him. It was so unfair. That’s why, I prefer the MCC”, Fawzya El-Sayed explains.
“With the MCC, I feel that I am an employee who gets paid a stable salary by the end of the month. With this monthly payment, I am entitled to get financial advances from the MCC whenever I need guaranteed by the milk I provide”, Fawzya adds.

Machinery increase yields, value-added agriculture products

Agriculture in Egypt lacks machinery and equipment to improve the production process. Aware of such an issue, the EU- funded project, Hayat Kareema, accepted proposals of local CDAs and cooperatives for buying machinery that meet the needs of farmers’ communities.In Beni Suef, farmers suffer from high prices of rents, inaccessibility and poor quality of available machinery. For this reason, Ahmed Gomaa, director of the cooperative of El-Zaitoun village presented two proposals worth of one million EGP to CARE, through Hayat Kareema project, to provide tractors, a corn silage machine, a plough and a trailer. “Our role is to provide services to farmers. We already provide seeds and fertilizers, however, the cooperative is opt to optimize its role by providing machinery at affordable prices for farmers in El-Zaitoun village”, Ahmed says. “Up to the present moment, 1000 out of 1700 registered farmers have benefitted from the two tractors”, he adds. Flipping is important to preparing lands for the next cultivation season and helps increase yields by the end of the season. “Suppliers used to exploit farmers as they offered their tractors at high prices in El-Zaitoun. They know that farmers have no other option”, Ahmed explains. The cooperative offers tractors at lower prices, 500 EGP instead of 700 EGP as offered in the market. View the lower prices offered by cooperatives, in turn, suppliers decreased prices too. Nasser Hussein, a farmer in El-Zaitoun village praises the quality of the cooperative’s tractor, leading to an increase of his yield; and
highlights the importance of accessibility to machinery for improving agriculture production. “My wheat yield increased from 3.5 tons to 5 tons last season. Having a high-quality tractor next door- at the cooperative- is definitely a good idea. Previously, we used to search for tractors in surrounding villages. It was difficult to find one on the spot. We had to wait for a week till we get it to the village”, Nasser Hussein, a farmer in El-Zaitoun village says. Filtering and packaging is another example of introducing machinery in agriculture sector. Beni Suef governorate produces vegetables and fruits allocated for exportation.