Bertha Ninko is very proud of the cheeses she and her colleagues produce at the Mountain Green dairy processing facility in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Using milk that is collected from local cow owners at the Meru Dairy Farmers Association just 200 yards up the road, she produces Gouda, Cheddar and even Mozzarella cheese which is particularly sought after by local pizza chefs. The milk collection building, which does quality control and provides refrigeration for local milk, and the processing facility, are the result of a program introduced by a United States dairy cooperative called Land O’Lakes. Established in 1921 to help farmers access markets for their butter, today Land O’Lakes brings together 3000 cooperatives in the U.S. It also brings it’s experience with cooperatives to the rest of the world and, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is helping this and other communities in Tanzania to increase their milk production and collection, process the milk into diverse products, and market them.
Bertha Ninko in the cheese laboratory. Ambassador Lane is in the background hearing how cheese is made.
Garba Yahaya, who works for a newspaper in Niger, takes notes outside the cheese laboatory. He is still wearing his cap and slippers.
Our journalists visiting the cheese laboratory. They are all wearing sanitary caps and slippers.
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