Increasing productivity and profitability of dairy farming Agriterra conducted a Company Assessment at SDMPCL in November 2016. In this assessment it became clear that although the cooperative is very motivated to increase profitability for its farmers and has firm ideas on what plans to execute  long term planning and feasibility studies upfront are lacking and therefore a clear and shared view on how to reach their plans is missing. The action plan of 2107 is in the line with company assessment recommendations.
  
 
  
The cooperative is specialized in provision of credit and saving services and in the collection of raw milk from its 1792 member farmer households (around 7.500 liter per day). It chills the milk in its chilling facility after which it is sold in bulk to dairy processors mainly in and around Kathmandu. SDMPCL furthermore has a small dairy processing facility where it produces small quantities of pasteurized milk  yoghurt  cheese  and ice-cream. Agriterra conducted a company assessment at SDMPCL in November 2016 and it was decided to start a partnership for the year 2017. The overall goal of the partnership is to increase the profitability of dairy farming for the member farmers. This will be achieved through 1) increasing the total milk chilling and processing capacity through investing in a new plant  2) strengthening the marketing/sales capacity  3) increasing the per-cow productivity  and 4) increasing provision of affordable and quality feed through investing in a feed factory. This action plan will mainly focus on strengthening the long-term strategic planning capacity  the business planning  the marketing capacity  and the record keeping of farmers Enhanced the livelihoods of dairy farmers of Dumarwana Milk Producer Cooperative Limited by increasing productivity and profitability of dairy farming The cooperative runs a financially healthy operation according to the financial statement over the year 2015-2016. However  its productivity is low and its financial ratios have been declining over the past years. Financial management knowledge can be improved  both on Board level and company level as well as on farmer level.  With support from Agriterra  SDMPCL can develop towards a more mature cooperative in future which is more beneficial for its members. The project is targeted to the members of the cooperative.
  


 The project objective is to increase the profitability of dairy farming for the member farmers. The main activities to achieve the objectives are training on farm record keeping analysis on profitability  bench marketing  productivity  feed ratio  research on cow productivity  feasibility study of feed factory  market assessment and financial management training. The expected results from these activities are  strengthening the cooperative in making long-term strategic planning capacity  the business planning  the marketing capacity  and the record keeping of farmers.
  

The project will be full year in 2017. The total budget of the project will be 4 178 Euro and Agriterra will contribute 2 804 Euro. The project has one focal person in the cooperative who will be responsible to do regular monitor of the project. Agriterra Nepal team will do regular follow up and evaluation of the project upon indicators set in the action plan. The cooperative will contribute 33% in the first-year collaboration and willingness to increase contribution in the following years.