Getting milk to the people

Press, 1 April 1980, Page 17

Getting milk to the people

Eight kilometres inland from the port town of Tanga, 1 on Tanzania’s balmy northern coast, a complex of concrete arches rises up amid a skyline of coconut palms.

These arches form the roof of- a set of buildings which represents New Zealand’s biggest financial commitment under the Bilateral Aid Programme in Tanzania — the Tanga milk treatment station. For the Tanzanians the project represents more than that. It is what Tengerii’s dairying expertise and Kitulo’s production efforts are working towards — milk treated, processed, and packaged for consumption by a population which is chronically short of protein in its diet “Child health through milk” is a Tanzania Gov•emment catch-cry, and the Tanga plant will .shortly be doing its bit to help achieve that goat The project is '. part othe dairy co-operation package — training, farm development -and milk treatment — agreed to bv the Governments of Tanzania. and New Zealand in 1974.

* In August of that year.

a Whangarei firm of consulting engineers, -Tapper Cotter Brown and Batten, was commissioned.'. under the Bilateral Aid Programme to design arid supervise construction of a treatment station and to buy the equipment for' it in consultation with the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and counterpart Tanzanian agencies.

the Tanzania Sisal Corporation and Tanzania Dairies, Ltd. T.S.A. diversified into dairying when the export market for sisal slumped, and the Tanga area was chosen as the location for dairy development because of . its heavy dependence on sisal production , that was paying less and less. .During the design phase of the station project Tanzania won a SIOM World Bank credit for large-scale parastatal dairy devel opment, including five new. farms in the Tanga area, and this led to a

scaling up of the station’s design. New Zealand’s contribution to ‘.he project in technical and capital assistance is now expected to cost about SI.9M. The Tanzania Government has contributed more than S2M to the project so far. The revised project plans called not only for equipment of bigger capacity but for increased

assistance from New Zealand with training and onsite expertise, notably the provision of a New Zealand plant manager for two years from near the time of commissioning. Commissioning of the station is about three months away. ■ • In anticipation of the event, Mr Kevin Davies, of Wellington, was recruited tinder the aid programme arid took up the plant manager’s position in September. ’ v Mr Davies, formerly senior technical officer with the -New Zealand

Dairy Board, is working with a Tanzanian counterpart, Zeke Kilamile, a dairy technology graduate of Kenya University who spent a‘ year studying in New Zealand. . According to Mr Davies, the station should begin operating with a daily supply of fresh milk from local T.S.A. farms of up to 3000 litres. “To start with we are aiming to put out

10-12,000 litres a day. The balance will be made up by recombining World Food Programme milk powder from Europe. “The plant’s capacity is up to 5000 litres an hour, so there’s quite a lot of room for growth in bulk supply from the farms.” In half-litre packs the milk will be distributed mainly in Tanga township, the biggest centre of the northern coastal region.... The station’s main buildings are a process — plant, boilerhouse and administration block. Th§

complex, including the bar r e 1-vault reinforced concrete roofing, was designed ..by a consulting engineer, Terry Batten, who has shared on-site supervision of construction ’with other members of his Whangarei firm. An Auckland company. Stainless Fabrications, sub-contracted to supervise installation of the equipment, has assigned staff to work at the pro-

ject periodically over the last year. Because of its out-of-town location the project has included provision of support facilities such as, w f ater supply, sewage, and stormwater reticulation, and access roading. A workshop and laboratory is incorprated in the complex and a special feature will be the use of waste water from the station about 100,000 litres a day —- to spray irrigate nearby cow paddocks. Three key staff members, an electrician, boiler mechanic, and refrigeration engineer, arrived in New Zealand last November for periods of training ranging from six months to a year,

The third and final article in a series describing New Zealand’s development assistance programme in Tanzania, by NEVILLE PEAT, Publicity Officer, External Aid Division.