From 7 February 2018, Brighton, UK

1. 07 February 2018
Building
dairy value
chains in
Afghanistan
Nigel Poole - n.poole@soas.ac.uk

2. National Nutrition Fact Sheet
(UNICEF/NNS, 2014)
Province-wise prevalence of stunting (children 0-59 months)

3. Dairy sector overview
• Early stage of development
• small-scale scattered dairy
producers – women’s roles
• imports account for a large
part of dairy supply, mainly
milk powder
• UHT products are popular
due to long shelf-life and
lower dependence on
refrigeration
• 2X price of local fresh milk
from farms

4. The intervention
• Women’s Economic
Empowerment (WEE)
project was implemented
by Afghanaid 2013-16
• technical training in
production activities
• provision of inputs
• training in entrepreneurship
and leadership skills
• establishing community-
based organisations (CBOs)
• investments in processing
capacity and marketing
networks
improve gender equality
and status issues affecting
women’s incomes and
decision making
increase women’s
participation in community
leadership and governance
• Questions:
• are there positive impacts on
nutrition of participating
households?
• are there consumption
benefits for the wider
population?

5. Value chain analysis
(based on Safi, 2016)
• does investment enhance
the ‘availability’ of foods?
• evidence for impact
through increasing
production and distribution
of dairy products?
• extent to which the dairy
chain investment adds value?
• equitable sharing of
incentives throughout the
chain?
• efficient governance of inter-
firm relations?
• management of costs and
risks?
• secondary data
• primary data – 139 subjects
• small scale survey of
producers in eight districts of
Badakhshan
• focus groups of
intermediaries
• key informant interviews

6. Value chain assessment
Cf Maestre et al, (2017)
• Sector attractiveness?
• investments in physical and
human assets increased milk
volumes, processed products
• women’s inclusion upstream…
• supporting and regulatory
functions?
• poor roads, uncertain
electricity and limited
information and
communications systems
increase costs and risks
• weak systems of quality
management and hygiene
control
• poor packaging, cf competition
from imports
• distribution to nutritionally
vulnerable consumers?
• upscaling of capacity and
new product development
• chain coordination up to retail
level and to final consumers

7. Conclusions
and further work
• Need to assess dairy
consumption within the
wider population
• do interventions improve
dairy ‘affordability,
utilization and stability’?
• how do seasonal extremes
affect dairy supply – and
household nutrition?
• PUNGO investments are
needed for
• upscaling supply
• marketing and
competitiveness
• public infrastructure
• policy environment – not least
safety and hygiene
• support to intermediaries for
VC coordination?

8. References
• UNICEF (2014). National Nutrition Survey: Afghanistan (2013). Kabul, United Nations
Children's Fund.
• Boros, R. and McLeod, A. (2015). Empowering women in Afghanistan - Reducing gender
gaps through Integrated Dairy Schemes. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations. Retrieved 05 February 2018, from http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4585e.pdf.
• Afghanaid (2016). Baseline survey report: Women's Economic Empowerment II. Kabul,
Afghanaid.
• Safi, Z. (2016). Dairy Value Chain Assessment in Eight Districts of Badakhshan. Kabul,
Afghanistan, Afghanaid.
• Maestre, M., Poole, N. and Henson, S. (2017). Assessing food value chain pathways,
linkages and impacts for better nutrition of vulnerable groups. Food Policy 68: 31-39. ISSN
0306-9192. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.12.007.
• Maestre, M. and Poole, N. (2018). Introduction: Value chains for nutrition in South Asia:
Who delivers nutritious foods, how and to whom? IDS Bulletin 49(1): 1-20. ISSN 0265-5012.
DOI 10.19088/1968-2018.101
• Poole, N. (2018). Building dairy value chains in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. IDS Bulletin
49(1): 107-127. ISSN 0265-5012. DOI 10.19088/1968-2018.107.