Cooperative Development Program (CDP) - Land O' Lakes (LOL), 2010

The production and marketing of milk generates income and employment opportunities for millions worldwide and provides an important source of nutrition to women, children and households.

Dairy cooperatives in both developed and developing countries play a critical role in moving milk from farms to consumer markets.

However, increasing global demand for milk and dairy products is attracting both domestic and international competition in dairy producing countries, especially those in East Africa, which have a rich history and culture of keeping livestock and cultural acceptance of milk consumption.

Dairy cooperatives not only must compete with private sector processors, informal sector traders and vendors in the marketplace, but they also have to compete with these same businesses for farmers' milk.

In response to this competition, a number of dairy cooperatives in developing countries have succeeded in horizontally and/or vertically integrating their operations to achieve scale, increase their competitive position in the marketplace, maximize returns to members, and engender member loyalty.Land O'Lakes (LOL) assists partner- cooperatives in Uganda and Kenya in addressing the most pressing issues by facilitating access to solutions that assist cooperatives to effectively manage scale through horizontal and vertical integration.

This project also focuses on Cooperative Development Partners (CDP) in creating partnerships that contribute to self-reliant enterprises that meet the needs of participating members.