Giving value to
pastoral produce:
The case for dairy products
A Mauritanian Experiment
Tiviski Dairy
Maryam Abeiderrahmane
Mauritania
 Land area: 1,034,000 km2 in the Sahara and the Sahel.
 Rainfall: between 0 and 200 mm/year (except in the southernmost
region).
 Population: app 3,000,000.
 In 1960, the population was 70% nomadic, now officially less than
15%.
 GDP per capita: app. $1,000.
 Agriculture: 20% of GDP, of which 75-85% is from stock raising.
 National herd (estimated):
• 1,000,000 dromedary camels,
• 1,500,000 cattle (zebu),
• 8 – 12,000,000 sheep and goats.
 Public investment in the stock raising sector: 5 to 7% of total (up to
2007), and 33 to 45% of investment in the rural sector.
Tiviski
 Tiviski: private enterprise (initially mini-dairy) set up in 1987 by
Nancy Abeiderrahmane (née Jones).
 Basic concept: To establish a connection between the dairy
potential of pastoral stock and city-based consumers of fresh
produce, currently unable to access fresh milk, their basic
foodstuff.
 Initial investment: FF 1,500000 (€230,000).
 First product in April 1989: Pasteurised camel milk in gable-top
cartons.
 Financing, fully paid off:
• Initial loan: FF 1,000,000 (€150,000) from the ADF.
• UHT factory (2001): €2,000,000 from EIB, Proparco and SFI
Tiviski
 Cumulative investment: app. € 4,000,000
 Average annual turnover: € 3,100,000
 Daily output: between 12,000 and the record of 22,000 litres/day.
 Suppliers: up to 1,000 families (seasonal variations).
 Personnel: 200, all Mauritanians.
 Direct and indirect jobs created: estimated at 3,000.
 Average gross profit between 1989 and 2007: 7.7 %, fully reinvested.
Collecting the milk
The diary industry is a bridge
between milk from the herders
and city-dwelling consumers.
 All the raw material – camel, cow and goat milk – is purchased from stock
raisers, all of whom are nomadic: not a single farm exists.
 There are two collection points, located at 200 and 320 km from the factory:
the milk is bought directly from the individual stock herders, without the use of
middle-men or collectors.
 The price paid for the raw milk is very high: €0.45/kg for cow and goat milk,
€0.57/kg for camel milk.
 The milk is collected and delivered twice a day, over a radius extending as far
as 90 km, by private, independent carriers.
Collecting the milk
 In the heat, raw milk rapidly becomes dangerous, or simply spoils.
 For the milk to be healthy and safe, and to provide time for it to reach
the urban markets, it must be processed. Heat treatment is used.
 Tiviski has always gone for cutting-edge technology in its determination
to provide high-quality carton-packaged milk.
 Naturally, there have been many setbacks, and it has taken several
tough years to reach the profitability threshold.
300,000
250,000
200,000
100,000
05/89
10/89
03/90
08/90
01/91
06/91
11/91
04/92
09/92
02/93
07/93
12/93
05/94
10/94
03/95
08/95
01/96
06/96
11/96
04/97
09/97
02/98
07/98
12/98
05/99
10/99
3/00
8/00
01/01
06/01
11/01
04/02
09/02
02/03
07/03
12/03
05/04
10/04
03/05
08/05
01/06
06/06
11/06
04/07
09/07
02/08
07/08
12/08
Brief History
350,000
Monthly milk purchase, 1989-2008
CHAMELLE
TOTAL
Severe drought
VACHE
CHEVRE
Competitors
start up
150,000
Cereal
price
rise
50,000
0
The Challenges
 In addition to challenges associated with the business environment
in a less developed country, the illustration highlights the specific
challenges involved in placing a value on milk from pastoral
sources:









huge distances between herds and markets;
low yield from stock (10 to 20 kg of milk per 24 hours per supplier);
lack of infrastructure (roads, electricity, water, etc.);
unreliable climate;
supply subject to extreme seasonal variations: always either too much
milk or not enough;
uncertain quality of raw milk;
shortage of qualified manpower;
on top of everything else, huge imports of UHT milk by powerful
business interests, with no State control;
ultra-liberal ideology of the Government, depriving national industry of
support.
The business-oriented approach
The pragmatic approach adopted by Tiviski
has turned out to be very powerful:
The company has kept going since 1989,
paying back big loans.
Hundreds of stock herders have been lifted out
of poverty.
The collection system allows herds to remain
fairly mobile.
Stock herders have adapted by separately
managing non-productive beasts and dairy
animals.
The quality of raw milk is controlled by
discarding all faulty deliveries.
Greatest compliment – five similar units are
now competing in a very tight market.
Industry seems to be more
effective than Philanthropy in
building a sustainable pastoral
economy.
"Social Enterprise"?
The Tiviski Approach
First of all, the best
produce thanks to a
strategy based on
quality.
Marketing challenges
 Milk and fresh dairy products, with a short shelf-life, are more naturally suited to
local and national markets.
 The Mauritanian market has been swamped by imported UHT products, and
consumers lean towards products that are 'made elsewhere'.
 To mitigate the seasonal fluctuations in camel milk, a camel cheese, the only
one in the world, has been developed. Mauritanians don’t eat cheese, but the
European market is closed because of the absence of a European Unionapproved laboratory located in Mauritania.
 To mitigate the seasonal fluctuations in cow’s milk, €3 millions have been
invested in a UHT factory (under a Candia franchise), but the importers have
boycotted the product.
 Since Mauritania is not a member of ECOWAS, and the markets of the North
are closed to milk imports, regional opportunities are very limited.
 In view of the local competition in addition, the factory operates for the most
part under capacity.
Ecological repercussions
 It cannot be denied that dairy production leads to a greater concentration
of stock numbers around elivery points.
 And it is a fact that the Mauritanian pastoral environment is very close to
desert conditions, quite extreme and vulnerable.
 Through the sale of milk the stock raisers are able to feed their flocks and
herds through the difficult dry season and in bad years.
 Stock raisers must achieve a balance between the cost of transport from
distant pastures and the cost of fodder.
 The demand for stock feed could be profitable for farmers: fodder
production, agricultural by-products.
 All other things being equal, well-managed grazing is good for the
environment: “Animals were invented by plants to disperse their seeds".
“
General comments
 If the value of rural resources is to be raised, it will usually
happen via the marketing of the produce in urban environments.
 This calls for an outlet, the "pull" factor: INDUSTRIES and
businesses which purchase, process and package agricultural
produce for urban markets.
 In order to optimise results, finance and investment must be
channelled towards these businesses.
 These businesses are also the essential route towards the
export of meat and dairy products of pastoral origin.
 Stock raisers are unable to do it by themselves, but they have
shown themselves to be by nature highly adaptable. They can
be helped by support, but simply “pushing” them is not enough.
Additional comments
 Tiviski has set up a number of support systems for the benefit of
stock raisers: milk collection, fodder supply at wholesale prices and
end-of-month credit, veterinary care, vaccination, feeding and
health information, loans from time to time, free mosquito net
impregnation, etc.
 The basic advantage of operating via the factory is that it allows for
payment for fodder and services to be made via a deduction from
the milk payment.
 Even when suppliers have managed to organise themselves so
that they can manage some of the services by themselves, they
still require Tiviski to make payment deductions and then to
reimburse the individual stock raisers.
 This important factor is sometimes poorly understood by wellintentioned NGOs, which act as though private enterprise was
fundamentally EVIL.
Conclusion
 If Europe were to amend its priorities and decide to help lessdeveloped countries to develop, instead of protecting its own
markets and forcing less developed countries to open up to its
own products, it would be easier to create local added value
based on pastoral stock-raising products, thus achieving a
secure income for stock-rearing communities.
 Governments could be urged to implement policies which were
more favourable to pastoralists, and above all to manage
imports in a way that supports the access of local produce to the
domestic market.
 It is crucial that financing be made available to private
entrepreneurs who are prepared to enter the fray with no
expectation of quick profits, in return for the great satisfaction of
making a significant contribution to progress in their homelands.