DUSHANBE, April 4, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, through the Southern Tajikistan Agribusiness Supply Chains Development Project trains Tajik dairy producers and small processors on use of advanced, affordable and mobile milk testing technology called lactoscan which allows testing of collected milk at source, thereby preventing the intake of substandard milk.

According to press release issued by IFC Tajikistan, the new technology is easy-to-use, can work with battery power so the device is useful where there is no electricity, and the lactoscan has an extremely short testing time of 60 seconds. Use of this device is especially important for milk collected from a cluster of households where one single litre of bad milk could sour the entire cluster’s intake.

IFC Southern Tajikistan Agribusiness Supply Chains Development Project launched a follow-up series of trainings on the use of express milk testing equipment for dairy processors and household dairy producers and private dehkan farms in Vahdat, Faizabad and Yavan districts. These training seminars, timed to coincide with the normal spring seasonal increase in milk production, are a follow-up to similar training seminars that were conducted in 2008.

On March 30, an in-house training was hosted in Dushanbe by Dilovar LLC, a newly established dairy processing plant. Training participants included technical laboratory staff of Dilovar LLC and a contact person for one of the household clusters from Guliston jamoat of Vahdat district.

According to one of the training participants, "This device replaces dozens of laboratory procedures, glass-wear and equipment. It is quick, precise and has several additional options for testing not only milk but also other products like ice-cream, sour cream, cream, etc."

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in local and international financial markets, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. IFC’s vision is that people should have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. In FY07, IFC committed $8.2 billion and mobilized an additional $3.9 billion through syndications and structured finance for 299 investments in 69 developing countries. IFC also provided advisory services in 97 countries.

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is a government agency that reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden. Sida is responsible for most contributions of Sweden to international development work with the goal to improve the standard of living of poor people and eradicate poverty.