Dairy Production and Marketing Systems in Kaffa and Sheka Zones, Southern Ethiopia

The study was conducted in four districts of Kaffa and Sheka zones to assess dairy production, processing and marketing system. A total of 140 were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire and the collected data was analyzed by using SPSS. Accordingly, the majority (42.7%) of the households use animal feeds from their own crop farm majority. About 88.8% of households milked their cows twice a day while the rest milk their cows once a day with 1.74 liters of milk per cow per day on average. In milk processing about 47.9% of dairy producers used traditional churning material called clay pot while the rest used wooden ‘Kell’, both wooden Kell and clay pot and plastic material. The major constraints for dairy production and marketing system in the study area are lack of improved forage seed and improved dairy breed, livestock diseases, lack of awareness on dairy husbandry practices, limited infrastructure, lack of dairy producing and marketing cooperative. There no formal channels for milk marketing in the study area as a result dairy cattle owners practice informal milk marketing system. The mean prices of milk, cheese (ayib) and butter in the study area were 14.04±.36 per liter; 33.3±.91 per kg and 92.84±2.07 per kg, respectively. Keywords:-Dairy, production, marketing system and postharvest handlin