This grant required some early strategic changes based on new information on the ground. However, CARE demonstrated good flexibility and is now on track and making progress. We expect it to meet its goals on time.
The strategy has shifted: CARE’s original plan called for building new chilling plants for dairy farmers to be able to chill and preserve their milk, but studies conducted at the start of the grant found many existing chilling plants operating significantly below capacity. As a result, CARE changed its approach to emphasize linking dairy farmers to existing plants. We believe this is a more effective and sustainable approach, and CARE has already signed agreements with the major owners of the existing chilling plants.
Low productivity is a big challenge: To increase their incomes, farmers need to boost the very low volumes of milk their cows produce. CARE is working with farmers to improve their cows’ feeding practices, and with the private sector to make quality animal feed more widely available. But CARE is finding that even with better nutrition, local cows may not be able to produce sufficient quantities of milk. CARE is now adding efforts to help farmers access quality artificial insemination services, which will enable them to breed cows with significantly higher potential for milk production.
Mobilizing farmers, and especially women, has gone well: CARE has exceeded its goal for farmers organized by nearly 60 percent. In addition, approximately 75 percent of the farmers it has reached are women—important because women in Bangladesh do most dairy work but receive little training and support. One reason for CARE’s success on this front is that about half of the project staff it hired is women, making it easier to do outreach to women.
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