Reducing Postharvest Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
76
3.8. Milk and Dairy Products
Only one respondent selected ‘milk and dairy products’ as a commodity they had experience in
and answered questions. Cheese, yoghurt and qurut (dried traditional yogurt popular in
Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey)
were the main by-products of goat milk. The percentage of final product lost by weight in the
postharvest value chain for Milk and dairy products is presented i
Table 39: Weight and economic postharvest losses in milk and dairy products
Weight loss (%) Economic losses (%)
Products Global Processing
of milk
Storage and
distribution
of other
dairy
products
Consumpti
on of milk
or other
dairy
products
Global Processing
of milk
Storage and
distribution of
other dairy
products
Consum
ption of
milk or
other
dairy
products
Goat cheese,
yoghurt, qurut
(Afghanistan)
30 10 15 5 40 20 15 5
On average weight losses and economic losses reported were 30% and 40%, respectively. The
main step where losses occur was during the storage and distribution of the products (15%).
During the processing of the milk 10% of losses were reported and 5% during the
consumption. Causes and ways to reduce those losses in goat milk and dairy products from
Afghanistan, and constraints to achieve this were reported i
Table 40: Causes, mitigation of PHLs, and constraints to reducing PHLs reported for milk and
dairy products (Goat cheese, yoghurt, qurut from Afghanistan)
Postharvest step Causes Mitigation Constraints
Milking Hygiene
Cow mastitis
- -
On-farm storage and cooling
of milk
Lack of equipment - -
Processing of milk Lack of knowledge of dairy
processing
capacity building,
equipment
poor knowledge of
processing and
packaging
Storage and distribution of
milk
Inadequate storage
facilities
- -
Storage and distribution of
other dairy products
Inadequate storage
facilities
Storage facilities no facilities of storage
and distribution
Consumption of milk or
other dairy products
Poor packaging - -
Cow mastitis (infection of the cow mammary gland) was reported and can be caused by a lack
of hygiene. Lack of equipment and knowledge in dairy processing as well as poor storage
facilities and packaging were also cited. Capacity building and better storage facilities were
proposed to reduce losses. Current constraints are lack in knowledge of processing and
packaging of dairy products and inadequate facilities for storage and distribution of the
products.
3.9. Fish and Seafood Products
A limited number of respondents (3) selected ‘fish and seafood’ as a commodity they have
experience in. Smoked/dried fish and fresh fish were the products from inland or marine