ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
10 June 2004
For more information contact:
Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
Bedouin Women From Palmyra Visit ICARDA
Fifteen Bedouin women from Talila, near Palmyra, Syria, attended a traveling workshop on milk production and processing organized by ICARDA and FAO on 19-20 May 2004. The workshop was designed to introduce the women to new technologies related to milk processing, promote hygienic practices during processing and delivery, and analyze consumer preference for the various end-products.

The participants spent their first day visiting ICARDA’s El-Bab community-based project for dairy sheep production improvement where they were introduced to a prototype milking ramp designed and built by ICARDA, as well as a hygienic milk processing room including a simple gas burner, fridge, a fat separator and a sink. The prototype milking ramp is elevated which eases the milking process for women and allows them to observe and clean the udders of the ewes, preventing diseases such as mastitis. The Bedouin women appreciated the ramp very much as the traditional position for milking is uncomfortable and causes back and finger pain. They had the chance to exchange experiences with Um Hassan, a woman from Kabaseen, who explained the advantages of this effective yet simple technology, and Maha Addas, a researcher at ICARDA, explained that this technology can only be implemented through collective action because of the high costs involved.
Demonstration of milk quality testing at the Small Ruminant Unit at Tel-Hadya.
In the Bougaz village, the workshop participants had the opportunity to meet other women farmers and discuss the results of ICARDA’s small ruminant project that uses a participatory approach to test new technologies to improve the livelihood of small-scale milk producers. The local women farmers talked about their experience with new technologies such as the pasteurization of milk prior to cheese making and the use of new starter cultures for yogurt to avoid spoilage. Special emphasis was placed on the importance of hygienic conditions for milk processing. Most importantly, the women were able to exchange knowledge about different dairy products like keshk, jinglish, ghee and jameed produced in the Badia and El-Bab areas. The participants observed that the new technologies produce a firmer, drier cheese as well as a firmer yogurt that is preferred in the market.

ICARDA researchers and the participants of the traveling workshop on milk production and processing.
On the second day, the participants visited the Small Ruminant Unit at Tel Hadya. In the milk plant, a demonstration of cheese and yogurt production using modern equipment raised a lively discussion about dairy technologies as well as such aspects as costs and availability of markets for these products. The women tasted the different types of cheese and labneh produced at the plant and considered the pros and cons of diversification and Palmyra’s tourist market. During the visit to a more mechanized milking parlor with an improved flock of sheep and the herd of Shami goats, Dr Ghazan Jesry, ICARDA’s veterinarian at the Sheep Unit, explained the issues of transmissible zoonotic diseases, such as brucellosis, and the need to pasteurize milk to reduce risks. Dr Jesry also explained the importance of maintaining a healthy flock and hygienic conditions through all the stages of milk collection, processing and delivery.

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org) serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of 62 members and 16 Future Harvest Centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.
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