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in dairy goat farming in Malawi including those reared under on-station experiments at
Bunda College and farmer households with regard to survival, poor management and
utilisation of goat milk (Chigwa 2011). For these and other reasons, the dairy goats and
goat milk value chains have performed relatively poorer.
The major challenge limiting the increased productivity of dairy goats in both
countries is the low level of awareness on the importance of goat milk in human
health and nutrition. It is therefore not surprising that there have been almost no new
innovations in dairy goat husbandry, the handling of milk and the level of milk processing and packaging to meet the potential demand. In addition, the local farming
communities have low working capital and low capacity for handling raw milk, as
well as several constraints with regard to milk processing. Furthermore, the farmers
have low entrepreneurship skills and lack stable markets for raw or processed milk
and thus fail to run dairy goat enterprises efficiently. These factors have contributed
to the difficulties in scaling up and improving production to meet the larger market
demands (Lie et al. 2012). In a paper published by Msalya et al. (2016), the possibility of a private-public partnership (PPP) involving SUA, TWAWOSE and a private
dairy processing company within Morogoro Municipality, namely, Shambani
Graduates Limited (SGL), was floated. It was suggested as a sustainable way of
providing a stable and reliable market for milk from TWAWOSE and other dairy
goat farmers; it would improve storage and processing and also enable goat milk to
reach a larger market such as Morogoro, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam. To achieve
such collaborations or partnerships, understanding of the quality aspects of milk as
a raw material for processing and improved milk handling practices at the farm level
are essential prerequisites (Msalya et al. 2016). In the present chapter, we present
and discuss these aspects and highlight the importance of farmers adopting the relevant technologies for processing liquid milk beverages, yoghurt and cheese, as
well as improving packaging and shelf life of goat milk in the rural settings. Firstly,
the handling of goat milk, its chemistry, processing and nutritional possibilities are
discussed. Attention, if duly given to these issues, will lead to improvements in the
management of goats, milk productivity and handling, and overall high quality of
milk delivered to the collection centres. Consequently, consumption is expected to
increase, while more farmers will turn to goat farming because of stable and reliable
markets as well as increasing profits.
2 Goat Milk Quality, Handling and Processing
2.1 Goat Milk Quality
Milk as a raw material used in food production should be from healthy animals, free
from antibiotics, and should have a low somatic cell count (SCC) and bacteria count
(Park and Guo 2006). According to García et al. (2014), milk quality could be
defined as the potential of milk to withstand different technological treatments such
as heat and pressure, have good renneting properties and be easy to acidify using
Goat Milk Quality and Possible Dairy Products from Rural Households of Tanzania…
in dairy goat farming in Malawi including those reared under on-station experiments at
Bunda College and farmer households with regard to survival, poor management and
utilisation of goat milk (Chigwa 2011). For these and other reasons, the dairy goats and
goat milk value chains have performed relatively poorer.
The major challenge limiting the increased productivity of dairy goats in both
countries is the low level of awareness on the importance of goat milk in human
health and nutrition. It is therefore not surprising that there have been almost no new
innovations in dairy goat husbandry, the handling of milk and the level of milk processing and packaging to meet the potential demand. In addition, the local farming
communities have low working capital and low capacity for handling raw milk, as
well as several constraints with regard to milk processing. Furthermore, the farmers
have low entrepreneurship skills and lack stable markets for raw or processed milk
and thus fail to run dairy goat enterprises efficiently. These factors have contributed
to the difficulties in scaling up and improving production to meet the larger market
demands (Lie et al. 2012). In a paper published by Msalya et al. (2016), the possibility of a private-public partnership (PPP) involving SUA, TWAWOSE and a private
dairy processing company within Morogoro Municipality, namely, Shambani
Graduates Limited (SGL), was floated. It was suggested as a sustainable way of
providing a stable and reliable market for milk from TWAWOSE and other dairy
goat farmers; it would improve storage and processing and also enable goat milk to
reach a larger market such as Morogoro, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam. To achieve
such collaborations or partnerships, understanding of the quality aspects of milk as
a raw material for processing and improved milk handling practices at the farm level
are essential prerequisites (Msalya et al. 2016). In the present chapter, we present
and discuss these aspects and highlight the importance of farmers adopting the relevant technologies for processing liquid milk beverages, yoghurt and cheese, as
well as improving packaging and shelf life of goat milk in the rural settings. Firstly,
the handling of goat milk, its chemistry, processing and nutritional possibilities are
discussed. Attention, if duly given to these issues, will lead to improvements in the
management of goats, milk productivity and handling, and overall high quality of
milk delivered to the collection centres. Consequently, consumption is expected to
increase, while more farmers will turn to goat farming because of stable and reliable
markets as well as increasing profits.
2 Goat Milk Quality, Handling and Processing
2.1 Goat Milk Quality
Milk as a raw material used in food production should be from healthy animals, free
from antibiotics, and should have a low somatic cell count (SCC) and bacteria count
(Park and Guo 2006). According to García et al. (2014), milk quality could be
defined as the potential of milk to withstand different technological treatments such
as heat and pressure, have good renneting properties and be easy to acidify using
Goat Milk Quality and Possible Dairy Products from Rural Households of Tanzania…