First cooperative Afghan dairy farmers' union established

AFGHANISTAN - Some 400 dairy farmers from seven cooperative societies in the southeastern Logar and central Wardak provinces have set up the first ever cooperative dairy union in Afghanistan in an effort to boost production and marketing of pasteurised milk and other dairy products, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The union was established with help from the FAO and the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MAAH), and has been registered as the first private cooperative dairy union by the agriculture ministry, Assadullah Azhari, FAO public information officer, said in Kabul on Wednesday.

In conjunction with MAAH, the FAO has also given a week-long training course on organisation and management of cooperatives to 46 leaders of farmers' cooperatives and dairy technical field staff.

Afghanistan's Minister for Agriculture Obaidullah Ramin said that the move was a significant step towards improving the private sector and encouraging livestock in Afghanistan, where some 85 percent of population depend on agriculture.

"We are planning to create hundreds of such independent farmers' unions across the country in order to reduce current food insecurity, poverty and unemployment," Ramin said.

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Source: IRIN

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