Milk jam – a new product adding momentum to the development for Banh herd owners.
Burkina Faso has quite a number of “dairy basins”, e.g. areas where cattle herds are numerous and milk is produced in abundance. It is mostly the milk producing areas around the largest cities, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso,that attract interest because of their market potential, given the size of the population. That, however, does not mean that nothing can be done with milk produced in remote areas, far away from consumers. This is why some time ago, on the 8th of September, we went to Banh, 70 kms north of Ouahigouya, together with the president of the Boulkiemdé dairy shop. The mayor of Banh joined us at Ouahigouya.
At some 10 kms from the town of Banh the mayor asked us to stop. He showed us a number of trees with leaves of a bright green colour and told us that they are excellent fodder for cattle and in particular for suckling cows. It follows that it is altogether possible to have milk all year round. Owners would just have to store large enough quantities of leaves to obtain all the animal feed that is needed. In contrast, on a first visit in March 2013, the cows did not produce enough milk, even for just the herd owner and his family!
From there we went on to stop at the Tangatangloé compound, 3 kms from the town. We had a long discussion with the farmers, and in particular with the women. We set up the beginnings of an organisation to start producing milk based jam already the next day. .
The following Friday I called the lady in charge of training the women. "She told me that all was going well. “The women provided a large enough cauldron to process 18 litres in one batch and produce 20 pots of 50 cl in one go”..
For the time being the women will confine themselves to just that: produce 20 jars a day. We must now organise the marketing.. But on the strength of our experience at our Koudougou restaurant, I am convinced that this product is heading for a bright future,. mainly to be used as a spread, on bread – or even better – on the tortillasfrom our restaurant:tortillas ,the famous Mexican style maize pancakes.
One thing is certain: The herd owners of Banh can easily produce 200 jars a day. !
We will start by selling at 1 600 francs a jar (that is in our retail outlets in Ouagadougou, Koudougou and Ouahigouya). Green leaves – excellent animal feed We count on our readers in Burkina to help us reach out to wider groups. The price paid back to producers will depend on the distance between production and sales points. 
Some might find that 1 600 francs a jar is expensive. Our reply: “Taste them! You will become a regular! And in particular, let the children have some, and listen to their comments! Also these jams do not contain any palm oil, which is a guarantee for your health.»
The jam may easily be kept for a full year or longer. In this way the dairy farmers of Banh should be able to sell part of their production at a profit. We hope to be in a position to sooner or later set up a milk and cheese processing plant and launch La Tomme du Sahel. (local cheese Made in Sahel, ndt*)». This would, however, require a much larger investment. (For the information of potential interested partners.)
checking a jam jar from Banh You may already get in touch with us and place your orders for the excellent milk jam from the rural community of Banh.
Latest news: on the 10th of October the Prime Minister and the Ministers of the Environment and Animal Resources visited Koudougou for the launch of the Forestry Investment Program. We were able to let the Prime Minister have a sample of our maize pancakes, which he liked, commenting : “This is natural”." " (See pictures)
Koudougou, 11th October 2014
Maurice Oudet
Director SEDELAN
