Linking school milk with smallholder dairy development strategy: Thai experience and design

considerations for a pilot project in Bangladesh

Mohammad A Jabbar and Vinod Ahuja

Background and objectives

• Bangladesh component of Two CFC funded projects to be implemented in partnership with GMPF :

– Smallholder dairy development through productivity improvement and better market access

– Link above with a pilot school milk programme to enhance milk consumption and livelihoods

• Objectives of this study

– To review nutrition and feeding programmes in Bangladesh and school milk programe in Thailand to draw lessons for designing the school milk pilot in Bangladesh

Methodology

• Review of published and unpublished literature and data

• Discussion with various stakeholders in the dairy sector and in school milk programmes in both the countries

• Specific discussion and field visits with GMPF about its past dairy operations, on-going activities and facilities in the context of plans for implementation of the new projects

• Discussion with FAORAP officials responsible for implementation of the projects

Review of nutrition and feeding

programmes in Bangladesh

Status of poverty and child malnutrition in Bangladesh

Poverty indicators 1990-95 2010

Poverty head count ratio 59.0 31.5

Poverty gap ratio 17.0 6.5

% population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

28.0 20.0

Under 5 child malnutrition indicators 1993-94 2007

Underweight 56.3 41.0

Stunted 54.6 43.2

Wasted 17.7 17.4

Source: Sixth five year plan document

Nutrition and feeding programmes/projects ran and/or running to address malnutrition

• National Food and Nutrition Policy and Programme

• Bangladesh School Feeding Programme of the World Food Programme

• Bangladesh School Nutrition Programme of Land O’Lakes and Tetra Pack

• School Milk Programme of Arla Foods

• Health, Nutrition and Food Security Project of CARE-Danone Japan

Source: www.WFP.org

Some nutrition and school feeding/educational projects without milk

• Nearly all are principally aid/donor funded and implemented mainly by NGOs with support from the government

• Under the National Food and Nutrition Policy and Programme

– a feeding project targeted to malnourished infants and pregnant mothers implemented in 105 out of 464 upazilas

– a project is implemented in 173 out of 464 upazilas to increase awareness of school students about balanced food and diet, nutrition and hygiene

• A school feeding project implemented since 2002 by WFP

– with support from the Ministry of Education

– To increase school enrolment, attendance and performance .

– currently distributes micronutrient fortified biscuits to 1.1 million students

– government is planning to expand the programme with own resources but with technical help from WFP

School milk project of Tetra Pack and Land O’Lakes: Only proper school milk project implemented in the country

• Implemented during 2002-03 and 2005-2009 in 4 upazilas in Jamalpur district with USAID donated powder milk to improve school enrolment, attendance and performance

• Powder milk was supplied to local dairy processors at agreed price and in lieu they delivered UHT milk to project upazilas at agreed price; further distribution to schools was arranged with local transport service providers.

• Distributed UHT milk to 500,000 students plus teachers in about 1000 primary schools

• Real objective was to test the acceptability of UHT milk in Bangladesh and create business opportunity for Tetra Pack’s technology

• So project was stopped once commodity aid stopped but main objective achieved as dairy processors created UHT capacity and are marketing UHT milk in urban and small towns and rural areas

Tetra Pack School milk project outcomes and problems

• No objective impact assessment was done but positive outcomes have been mentioned in project progress reports – School attendance and performance improved, absence reduced – Created employment for project staff, local transport providers – Created demand for a good amount of milk, which otherwise would

not happen

• Problems experienced (but not fully documented)include – being based on imported powder milk, created negative

consequence for domestic dairy producers – Duplication of student enrolment so needed extra supply of milk – Pilferage of milk reaching non-targeted people, – Students taking milk home to share with family as milk is a

highly valued product that poor can’t afford to buy, thus creating problems for measuring impact and performance

School milk project of Arla Foods in Dhaka slum area

• Danish Arla Foods co., largest exporter of powder milk to Bangladesh taking 30% share of powder milk market

• Imported powder and related trade, tariff and taxation policies have been found to favour exporters, domestic importers and dairy processors and not consumers and dairy producers as increased price transferred to consumers but not to producers

• As part of corporate social responsibility, Arla distributes UHT milk to a total of 800 students in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Dominican Republic. In Bangladesh, only one primary school in a slum area in Dhaka is served on school days but objective unclear

Grameen Danone : a social business

• Grameen Danone produces micronutrient

fortified yoghurt in its Bogra plant by

collecting milk from smallholder dairy

producers in the district for selling to rural

poor children to alleviate malnutrition

• Currently 20-30% of output sold in rural

areas, rest in urban areas. Retail price still

beyond the reach of most poor children

• Rural sales organized through mobile

Rickshaw Van sellers and Shakti Ladies

(women retailers) using cool boxes/bags

• A new product called fermented milk that

will not require cold chain is under trial

• A new plant planned for Savar near Dhaka

primarily targeting urban market, so the

original objective of serving rural poor may

remain unfulfilled.

CARE-Danone Japan project: Not school milk per se

• CARE-Danone Japan project promotes

awareness about balanced food, nutrition

and hygienic health practices among

10000 primary school students and

teachers in 50 schools in Bogra district.

Modules include special class lectures and

school gardening as main activities

• Grameen Danone’s yoghurt purchased by

the project and given to students twice a

month on project related special class

days to encourage attendance. So it can’t

be categorized as a school milk

programme per se

• Given only twice a month supply, impact

not known, likely to be insignificant

Review of dairy development and role of school milk programme in Thailand

Thai dairy development since 1962

• Dairy was not important in traditional mixed farming as cattle and buffaloes were mainly used for draft power and meat and no tradition of drinking milk among most adults

• Major initiative for dairy development since 1962 under Royal patronage and government support through

– Breed and feed development

– Extension and promotion of dairy farming as an alternative to less profitable crops especially in poorer regions away from Bangkok

– Promotion of dairy cooperatives to facilitate milk production, collection and marketing

– Promotion of dairy processing industry and milk consumption

– Trade and price policy to protect domestic dairy sector

Surplus production and school milk as a new market outlet since 1992

• Due to various efforts since 1962, dairy farming and milk production rapidly increased

• In late 1980s, farmers’ protested to solve problems of surplus milk and low and variable price

• Rapid economic growth yet malnutrition was still widespread

• In 1992 , Act promulgated to introduce school milk nationally to reduce child malnutrition , create future consumers and support dairy producers

• Milk purchased by government and distributed to schools , initially in kindergartens gradually adding other grades and number of days served, grade 6 reached in 17th year after introduction of the programme

Outcome of Thai school milk programme 1: Child nutrition and economy wide effects

• Child health and nutrition – Child malnutrition dropped from 18%

in 1992 to <5% in 2006

– Children height growth increased from 2-3 cm/yr in 1992 to 5 cm/yr by 2004

• Economy wide effects (see tables) : – Increased milk production and

consumption but reduced import

– Increased processing capacity

– Increased income, employment

– Reduced regional disparity

– High pay-off on public expenditure

Outcome of school milk programme 2:

Number of cows, milk production and import

Year No of milking cows

Milk output (tons)

Powder milk import (tons)

1961 2000 2000 1535

1970 2800 3500 4428

1980 15000 30000 11247

1990 44450 130278 17336

1995 99456 307229 55000

2000 201000 520115 55600

2005 300000 888220 67200

2008 262000 786186 65431

Source: FAOstat; Bureau of Trade, Govt of Thailand

Outcome of Thai school milk programme 3: Increased share of school milk in production and consumption

1992 2009

Number students served by school milk, mil. 0.69 7.1

Annual budget, mil Bhat 279 10010

Milk consumption per capita, l/year <10 29

Milk consumption per school student, l/year 24 52

School milk as % of domestic milk production 12 37

School milk as % of total milk consumption 3 16

Domestic raw milk as % of overall consumption 24 44

Implications of Thai experience for Bangladesh

Summary of Thai experience

• Since 1962, strong public policy support with respect to breeding, extension, cooperative, tax, tariff, import and public investment significantly fostered dairy sector growth

• Since 1992 school milk at government cost played a key role in dairy sector growth, reduce import, alleviate child malnutrition, create future consumers of milk and support dairy producers

• Governance and financing mechanism of the programme evolved over time to address emerging problems such as quality control, use of raw vs powder milk, delivery problems due to long distance between processing plant and school, pricing at producer, school, processor and open market domains etc. These were resolved in a participatory manner involving all stakeholders including the Cabinet, the highest policy making body

• It is often argued that Thai dairy prospered due to government subsidies in various forms, which is true but the social return or pay-off from the public investment in the sector has been high, probably better than in any other field.

Implications for dairy sector in Bangladesh

• Dairy an important component of smallholder mixed farming providing food, income and employment but – Per capita consumption about 11 lit/yr and >30% of overall

consumption is imported

– Demand increasing rapidly due to income, population and urban growth

– supply response is poor due to low productivity and low marketed surplus, low and variable producer price, seasonality of production

– 15-17% of output collected from key milk sheds for processing for urban market, not adequate to induce investment by smallholder dairy farmers throughout the country

– Trade, tariff and price policies benefit only importers and processors, not producers and consumers

Implications for Bangladesh dairy 2

• Poverty and malnutrition is widespread in the country

• Main feeding programmes/projects under food security policy are not targeted to schools

• School nutrition projects are based on micronutrient fortified biscuits rather than milk or for only creation of awareness about balanced food, sanitation and hygiene

• The only pilot school milk project implemented for a number of years was based on imported powder milk without any link with domestic dairy production sector, so stopped when supply stopped

• So there is an opportunity for introducing school milk programme as a market outlet for development of the dairy sector and reduction of malnutrition. A programme based on the principle ‘local milk for local schools’ has much to recommend it as a pilot using Thai experience to test suitability of the idea and identify governance mechanism before larger public investments are made.

Design considerations for a pilot school milk project

Choice of sites for the school milk pilot

• Agreement in principle –CFC funded dairy development project will be implemented in Sirajganj, Kurigram and Thakorgaon and school milk pilot will be implemented in one or two of the three sites based on the principle ‘local milk for local schools’

• One or two of the three to be chosen for the school milk pilot

• Choice of marketing options of the productivity-market access project will determine design and implementation of the school milk project

Pros and cons of Sirajganj and Thakurgaon as school milk pilot site(s)

• Sirajganj

– A major milk producing area, have GMPF facilities and some dairy

activities in place

– Good access to milk processors if plan is to sell raw milk and buy processed milk

– But other dairy operators and interventions in place so piloting school milk may face multidimensional problems

• Thakurgaon – Fairly free from other dairy operators so pilot can be planned easily

– But physical facilities (chilling plant) limited, not located in ideal place

– GMPF dairy activities virtually absent

– Poor access to market for milk so will be costly to operate

Milk marketing options for the productity-market access proejct and implication for school milk pilot

Milk marketing strategy Implication for school milk pilot

1 Sell chilled milk to a large processor minus need for school milk

Unsuitable as chilled milk unsuitable for delivery to school and for school feeding

2 Add mini pasteurizing plant to existing chilling plant

Need cold chain to supply to school yet need to recognize no tradition in drinking cold milk

3 Create central pasteurization facility collecting milk from all sites

More expensive plus points made in 2

4 Create mini UHT plant at each site Highly suitable but need large initial investment and expensive to run

5 Sell chilled milk and buy UHT for school milk

Suitable but ‘local milk for local school’ may get diluted

6 Sell chilled milk to Grameen Danone and buy back fortified yoghurt or fermented milk

Suitable but operations expensive due to distance

Organization and management of the school milk pilot - 1

• Factors to be considered for implementation modalities – Target group has clear nutritional deficiency

– Intervention designed with local teams

– Well organized and managed schools

– Supervision in place to ensure milk consumed in school and control pilferage and inappropriate distribution to favoured persons

– Palatibility tested a priori

– Milk adequate to attract school attendance and adequate to relieve nutritional deficiency

– Participants aware of objective and methods of the project and participate voluntarily but effectively

Organization and management of the school milk pilot - 2

• Choice of schools and grades to be served – 2000 students to be served. Choose government primary and

registered schools

– choose grades first – 1-2 preferable as they will continue for three years, 3-5 will leave school after partial participation

– Then choose number of schools based on enrolment in grades 1-2

– Chose a central point/school and expand the radius until 2000 students are found

– Seek approval of Ministry of Education and assistance of upazila Education Officers plus other local authorities in the selection process

– Make provision for milk for students and class teachers

Organization and management of the school milk pilot - 3

• Management structure of the project

– A School Milk Management Committee for oversight, overall supervision and policy making

– A School Milk Project Committee for routine supervision and address urgent matters

– The School Milk Project office to run the daily activities

– Head Teachers of participating schools for management of the activities at the school

Organization and management of the school milk pilot - 4

• Organization and implementation of the project – Establish supply chain from supplier up to school store

room and set up logistics

– Conduct orientation sessions for project stakeholders

– Conduct more intensive sessions with school staff, other project staff and community members with handouts • Attribute of school store room/space

• Stock management procedure

• Daily distribution and consumption procedure

• Various recording forms e.g. stock movement, baseline data on students, end of project data

– Implement the activities

Conclusions

• Thai dairy development and school milk programme can be sources of important lessons for both dairy development and school milk pilot projects in Bangladesh

• GMPF should give more thought on project design and implementation modalities based on principles outlined in the report as GMPF is more conversant with CLDDP experience and current situation on the ground

Thanks for listening