March 1, 2007
U.S. Ambassador Visits AERI Site
On March 1, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Francis J. Ricciardorne visited the Zein El-Deen dairy association in Sohag. The association is being assisted by ACDI/VOCA’s Agricultural Exports and Rural Incomes (AERI) project.
Doug Anderson, ACDI/VOCA’s chief of party, welcomed the ambassador and introduced local officials including Mohamed El-Sayed Mohamed, association chairman, and Ms. Gamalat, board member and secretary, who ably guided the tour.
She explained how AERI is helping the association. Zein El-Deen’s milk collection center, feed mixing unit, and veterinary unit were provided under an earlier USAID contract, but ACDI/VOCA is organizing the association to take full advantage of these resources. For example, Member Abou Rami said modern farm equipment, including a tractor, a threshing machine, a plough, a trailer and a soil leveler, is helping to dramatically lower production costs.
At the veterinary clinic, the visitors observed Dr. Ahmed using sonar equipment, and training provided by AERI, to examine a cow for pregnancy. He has also been trained in hoof trimming, artificial insemination and specialized surgery. The doctor spoke of the facility’s care in dehorning and hoof trimming, which he said was once the task of the local carpenter who needless to say lacked knowledge of the physiology of the hoof.
Dr. Ahmed showed the surgical instruments, the spraying machine, calving and parturition-aiding tools and other equipment the project has provided. He said the AI tools will improve genetic stock and contain disease. He mentioned the link that AERI has created to specialized professors at Assuit University.
The ambassador’s party moved to the milk collection center and the management office, where they saw the motorcycle equipped to collect milk from remote areas and the backup electrical generator. It will be used to keep refrigeration equipment going and preserve milk quality when the electricity goes off. When passing the old collection and testing facilities, Ms. Gamalat wryly referred to them as the association museum.
Before entering the milk collection center, the party donned hygienic overshoes and hats. A member named Nawal explained the process of receiving milk from households, which, beyond measuring, includes testing butterfat content, pH and acidity to help determine price.
The group took in the cooling tanks, milk extractor and the feed mixing unit. The chairman explained the advantages of bulk purchasing for feed and other inputs.
Ambassador Ricciardorne ended the visit by talking with women beneficiaries. He learned that twice a day they milk their cows and buffaloes and make deliveries to the milk collection center. They usually carry on their heads four to five liters per trip in winter and three to four liters in summer.
USAID lauded the tour as a “great success” and added that the visitors were "very impressed with the work that has been done as well as how the women and farmers expressed their achievements and took so much pride in them."
The USAID-funded $8.3 million, four-year AERI Dairy and Livestock project is operating in six governorates in Upper Egypt. AERI addresses constraints by applying a market-driven, business-oriented approach which employs a range of technical and business improvement strategies that focus on small producers, value-adding processors and private and public sector service providers. The goal of the project is to increase rural incomes and smallholder productive assets.