World milk day celebration

June 1, 2019 in Hawassa, Ethiopia

Milk and traditional dairy foods are important components of the diets of millions. In order to celebrate and enhance collaboration between stakeholders, producers, consumers and other parties, the World Milk Day took place in Hawassa, Ethiopia on June 1, 2019. Panel discussions by high level professionals, presentations on the Ethiopian and global dairy industry, as well as motivation speeches and some entertainment were part of this year’s World Milk Day celebration. Challenges, opportunities and prospect of the dairy sector in Ethiopia were discussed.

Dr. Sintayehu Yigrem Mersha, dairy expert and CLIFOOD coordinator at Hawassa University, was invited as speaker and panelist and contributed on the event by showing the role of various stakeholders in transformation process of the agricultural sector (the dairy sub-sector in particular) of Ethiopia. Among the stated stakeholders were the higher institutes, vocational colleges and the research systems in advancing knowledge and focusing on high impact and problem solving research. In his presentation, the issue of food security and climate change, which is the focus of the German-Ethiopia SDG graduate school CLIFOOD, was mentioned as priority areas which can be tackled by holistic approaches. The event was covered through various national and regional media channels in order to recognize the importance of milk as a global food and promote production and consumption in Ethiopia.

Interview with Dr. Sintayehu Yigrem Mersha (in Amharic language)