RELOAD researchers at the European Parliament in Brussels
Smallholder dairy and pastoralism in East Africa was the focus of a closed session at the European Parliament in November 7th, 2017, to which RELOAD researchers Brigitte Kaufmann, Margareta Lelea (German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL)) and Raphael Arasio (University of Nairobi) were invited as speakers.
The event was organized by MEP Norbert Neuser from Germany and the Coalition of European Lobbies on East African Pastoralism (CELEP). In order for smallholders, pastoralists and other small-scale dairy value chain actors to continue providing high quality milk, regulatory requirements need to take context-specific constraints into consideration.For example, when milk traders purchase small quantities of milk from many farmers, the approved 50 l transport containers may lead to more losses than smaller containers which improve the traceability of the milk. Research and development can invest in alternative strategies and appropriate technologies to support livelihoods connected to the small-scale dairy sector.
Following this event, the Annual General Meeting of CELEP was held in Brussels with European members such as Veterinarians without Borders, MISEREOR and Cordaid, as well as East African partners such as PINGOs Forum from Tanzania, SOS Sahel from South Sudan, COPACSO from Uganda, and Pastoralist Forum Ethiopia, among others. Additionally, a panel session at the EU Infopoint was hosted by MEP Maria Noichl from Germany on the topic of “Pastoralism and conflict resolution in Eastern Africa”.
Click here to read a blog post from the Platform for African-European Partnership for Agricultural Research and Development detailing the event.
Photo: Petra Dilthey for eeem.org
