THE government through the Ministry of Livestock and Fishery has a plan to establish a milk processing factory in Katavi costing 120m/-.
The Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fishery Mr Abdallah Ulega made the remark recently here in municipality. This came in awake when more than 50 per cent of 26.5 million litres of milk produced in Katavi region annually are wasted due to lack of modern processing factories and reliable and competitive market.
Available statistics show that more than 5,000 litres of milk are produced daily and sold in the streets. Likewise, country’s annual average production of 3.4 million litres of milk but only 75 million litres processed.
He appealed to Tanzanians to drink milk regularly and ensure they also give milk to their children to improve their health status.
“Tanzanians should change attitude and consume more milk… Focus should be on children especially under five who need milk to develop their brains, unfortunately Katavi citizens are among Tanzanians with lowest milk consumption,” Mr Ulega said.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommend a person to consume at least 200 litres of milk annually. Meanwhile Katavi Regional Commissioner (RC) Ms Mwanamvua Mrindoko cautioned people against consuming milk from unknown source instead they should get it from authorized milk processing plants to avoid contracting diseases such as Tuberculosis (TB).