Training of Trainers on Reducing Milk Losses

5 Feb, 2019 – Tunis: As part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project to reduce food loss and food waste in Tunisia, FAO has organized a training program with the Inter-professional Consortium for Red Meat and Milk (GIVLAIT), financed by the Italian Agency for International Cooperation.

More than 30 technicians and engineers from collection centers and dairy plants have been trained on good practices for reducing milk losses. Present at this training were representatives of the Office of Livestock and Pasture, the Regional Commissions for Agricultural Development (CRDA), the milk plants and the collection centers targeted by the FAO project, particularly in the intervention zones of Bizerte and Mahdia. 

The purpose of this training day was to strengthen the participants' skills in terms of technical mastery and activity management for the reduction of losses at collection centers and dairies.

The training, which took place on January 29 at the Bizerte Agri-Food Technopole, informed participants on best practices for the reduction of milk losses at the collection centers, and the dairy processing and manufacturing centers, before concluding the training on the importance of improving technical performance and reducing losses throughout the dairy value chain.

Mr. Kamel Rjaibi, Director General of GIVLAIT, thanked the FAO for the implementation of the new agreement with GIVLAIT in the context of the reduction of losses and waste to the milk sector, highlighting the importance of this activity which aims to train trainers capable of passing on their knowledge to the hundreds of technicians and engineers actually contributing to the preservation of this strategic food product. He recalled the serious work done, thanks to the financing of FAO, by the experts in estimating, for the first time in Tunisia, the losses of milk in the various links of the dairy chain.

Ms. Raoudha Khaldi, national project expert representing FAO, said: "Food losses and waste represents a significant shortfall for the various actors at all levels and a source of waste of natural resources and means of production. It varies from 7 to 10% at the governorates of Bizerte and Mahdia, which calls for specific and targeted intervention for the prevention and reduction of these losses, providing an opportunity for job creation and added value, and thereby improving income and strengthening food safety."

In 2016, FAO began implementing a project to reduce food losses and waste in Egypt and Tunisia. The project was launched to address the alarming volume of food loss and waste in the Near East and North Africa, where it is estimated at around 200 kg per person per year.

In-depth studies estimating the losses and wastage of tomatoes and grapes in Egypt and cereals and milk in Tunisia were carried out. These studies aim to estimate waste and losses, and their causes, with a view to identifying priority actions for their reduction. This training is one of the priority actions selected as part of the second phase of the project dedicated to training and awareness-raising actions for the various links in the value chains.