Rural Small-scale Dairy Production Systems in South Africa Challenges Potentials and Opportunities for Improvement

Abstract

Rural small-scale dairy farming and milk production remain the economic backbone of rural household food security in sub-Saharan Africa although its contribution is a simple 2% in global milk production. In places such as India, Kenya, and Zambia rural small-scale dairy farmers play a significant role in the production and supply of milk. South Africa alone has been contributing 0.5% to global milk production because of the decline of about 41% in the year 1997 due to a drop in the number of commercial farmers and the increase of population. Unfortunately, South African rural small-scale dairy farmers have not yet reached that stage, because of various challenges including lack of support, limited knowledge, and practices of hygiene and safety which exposes milk to contamination with both spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. The compromised quality of milk could affect its optimum utilization for improved food and nutrition security. These constraints provide major opportunities and challenges for research and development to increase dairy production, efficient management of natural resources, and improved livelihoods of poor farmers.