Dairy production technology for small cheese producers
The assignment was carried out as part of ORGUT’s subcontract with Chemonics International within the USAID/Sida project –FARMA in Bosina-Herzegovina. The purpose of USAID/Sida FARMA is to provide technical assistance in agricultural sub-sectors through demand driven assistance aimed at improved competitiveness of agricultural products. USAID/Sida FARMA is a development project jointly funded by USAID and Sida and implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina. USAID/Sida FARMA is to expand environmentally sustainable production, processing, and sales of value-added agricultural products. The expected result of FARMA is contribution to poverty reduction. USAID/Sida FARMA is implemented by Chemonics International with ORGUT as a subcontractor. ORGUT provides consulting services aiming at increasing agricultural competitiveness, meeting EU accession standards, reducing poverty by expanding environmentally sustainable production, and increasing sales, exports, and employment. USAID/Sida FARMA’s approach focuses on four integrated components: Building sustainable market linkages for producers; Increasing access to finance; Building the capacity of producer organisations’ and other counterparts; and Enhancing the policy environment to benefit competitiveness of agricultural goods. In order to attain project goals, USAID/ Sida FARMA uses various tools, including a Development Fund and Partners Fund for targeted subcontracts to local partners.
USAID/Sida FARMA has worked intensively with dairy farmers and processors to improve the quality of milk and value-added products as well as increase the variety of cheese. For example, USAID/Sida FARMA assisted cheese producers to obtain training in Slovenia on the production of special flavored cheese as well as meeting EU requirements related to food safety and standardization. While there are significant improvements in the production of traditional special flavored cheese, small cheese producers still have room to improve particularly in technological processes, standardization and the production of additional dairy products in order to be successful in the domestic and regional market. The cheese producers would benefit from an experienced dairy production technologist who can provide technical advice on site, taking into account the conditions of the facility and market opportunities.
In this assignment on dairy production technology for small cheese producers ORGUT provided on-site assistance to producers to improve production techniques, using latest production standards according to EU requirements, and to evaluate opportunities for new cheese varieties (such as pepper-flavored products) and products made from whey.