Diary Authority gets new boss
Jul 12, 2020
By Geoffrey Mutegeki
The Dairy Development Authority (DDA) has a new executive director, Michael Kansiime.
Jolly Kemirembe, the outgoing executive director, handed over office to Kansiime last Friday at the DDA head office in Kampala.
The Minister of State for Animal Industry, Bright Rwamirama, who was a guest at the handover, said malnutrition affects millions of Ugandans, but it is devastating to women, babies and children.
"People tend to drink soda or fruit juice, which are readily available. I want to encourage Ugandans to take
milk," Rwamirama said.
"We should prioritise serving milk at functions, which is more nutritious than those other beverages."
There is need to improve milk consumption among Ugandans if Uganda is to address the country's poor state of nutrition. According to UNICEF, about 2.3 million young children in Uganda today are malnourished.
In addition, 16% of children under fi ve are underweight, while 6% are wasted and 12% of women are malnourished.
Milk is a calcium-rich drink that is loaded with nutrients, such as protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, Vitamin B2 and vitamin B12, as well as Vitamin D when fortified.
According to nutrition experts, these nutrients are easily digested by children and adults for proper development of the brain, body, strong bones, energy and good eyesight.
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Kansiime noted that if every Ugandan takes milk, this will create enough market and jobs, which is good for the dairy sector. "As a country, we need to improve the consumption of milk, as well as the processing of other products, such as milk shakes, cheese and yoghurt so that farmers earn more," Kansiime said.
He said there is need to enable more people access milk especially in areas where supply is low.
"We need to address the lack of necessary infrastructure to marketing," Kansiime says.
He explains that Uganda's dairy earnings in 2019 peaked to about $139m, which can increase if more value is added to the milk. Kemirembe said growing local consumption will see the dairy sector make a huge contribution to farmers'
incomes.
"We cannot depend on outside world to grow this sector. Increasing local consumption is the only way to grow the milk sector," she said.
Kemirembe challenged government to address the issue of fl uctuating farm gate prices, tick-resistant acaricides, understaffi ng at the authority.