Milk Post-harvest Losses, its Causes and Mitigation Strategies along the Dairy Value Chain of Selected Milk Sheds of Ethiopia

Background: The lack of suitable markets and spoilage are the main causes of post-harvest losses of milk and dairy products along the supply chain. Milk loss can be seen in economic, qualitative, quantitative and nutritional terms. Reduction in amount is referred to as a quantitative loss, but an economic loss is decrease in the food’s value as a result of physical loss. Methods: The study was conducted at Addis Ababa-Selale, Ambo-Waliso and Adama-Asella milk sheds with the objective to investigate milk postharvest losses, their causes and mitigation strategies along the milk sheds. Depending on their potential for dairy production, three milk sheds were purposively selected, whereas households selected randomly and proportional to their size. A total of 296 smallholder dairy producers from the districts, 16 milk collectors, 3 dairy plant processors, 35 milk retailers and 115 milk consumers were selected for semi structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 software. Result: The majority of the respondents (92.9%) reported that the common milking equipment used for milking was plastic buckets. The total milk postharvest loss among the milk sheds were (40.5%) in Addis Ababa-Selale, (17.33%) in Ambo-Waliso and (7.24%) in Adama-Asella. As mitigation strategies for post-harvest losses, refrigerators, keeping milk in cold water and clean milk storage were practiced in the area by (1.3%), (21.2%) and (73%) of the respondents, respectively. In conclusions, total milk post-harvest loss was 21.6% in the study milk sheds. Therefore, mitigation strategies and further intervention should be implemented at each stage of milk postharvest loss, focusing on hygienic milk handling, provision of solar based refrigerators, clean milk storage and milking equipment in the study milk sheds.