PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Dairy Nourishes Africa – Building Inclusive Livelihoods Through Dairy (DNA-BILD)

Promoting inclusivity in Tanzania’s dairy sector.
2022 – 2024

While women constitute 70 percent of the dairy sector labor force in East Africa, women’s participation in other parts of the value chain is limited at best, with most benefits directed towards men. Women have difficulties accessing finance and business services to grow their small businesses and are oftentimes neglected by extension and input service providers. Youth experience high unemployment rates, and the educational and financial infrastructure to support social entrepreneurship is limited. Small businesses particularly struggle to access low-income customers and smallholder farmers with efficient marketing, collection, and distribution mechanisms. 

Dairy Nourishes Africa – Building Inclusive Livelihoods through Dairy (DNA-BILD) is a two-year project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). DNA-BILD is transforming Tanzania’s dairy industry by creating vibrant ecosystems of farmer-allied and environmentally sustainable enterprises that improve nutrition, enhance livelihoods, and stimulate inclusive economic growth. DNA-BILD expands upon early successes of a pilot program and is intentionally designed to complement and leverage DNA’s participation in the newly launched Tanzania Inclusive Processor-Producer Partnerships in Dairy (TI3P) project by extending DNA’s impact to reach resource-poor, opportunity-constrained stakeholders across the dairy value chain that would otherwise not be engaged by TI3P, particularly women and youth, to enable inclusive, climate-smart economic development in the dairy sector.

— Results to Date —

11

DNA-BILD supported Farmer Allied Enterprises providing last-mile delivery services

14

Farmer Allied Enterprises supported by DNA-BILD through the Dairy Challenge Fund matching grant program

9760

Farmers reached through DNA-BILD supported enterprises

PROJECT FOCUS AREAS

1. Growing Consumer Demand

DNA-BILD is engaging in multi-level promotional campaigns to reach underserved communities with limited access to animal-sourced foods to stimulate the demand for dairy.

2. Driving Enterprises to Full Potential

DNA-BILD is providing technical and financial support to smaller farmer-allied enterprises (FAEs) across the dairy sector — including farm input, service providers, and agro-dealers — and targeting enterprises that are women- and youth-owned or inclusive.

3. Increasing Farmer Productivity

DNA-BILD is providing extension services to underserved smallholder farmers that would not otherwise be reached, who operate in inefficient production systems and do not have strong linkages to participate in formal markets.

COUNTRY CONTEXT

Tanzania

Dairy is one of the most important economic sectors in Tanzania, contributing 30 percent of agricultural GDP, and it is critical to rural incomes, employment, food security and resilience, as 70 percent of milk produced is from smallholder farmers. As incomes rise in urban areas, demand for dairy in Tanzania is growing, which can strengthen rural livelihoods by providing smallholder farmers with regular, year-round cash flow.