Introduction

The Livestock Products Outlet was constructed at one of the most strategic location in Doksum, where thousands of commuters stop for meals and refreshments daily on Trashigang-Yangtse highway. This strategic location not only lures many potential customers but also is located at a short distance from three Gewogs of Trashiyangtse (Khamdang, Ramjar and Toedtsho), which has the highest number of dairy groups. Doksum Outlet serves as one of the central points of linking milk producers to the markets

Doksum outlet was built with the intent to group small dairy farmers to deal with marketing challenges. The outlet was established in FY 2018-2019 with Nu. 0.7M fund support (0.3M for construction and 0.4M for Equipment) from CARLEP. Currently, the outlet is equipped with a 500ml milk chiller, a deep freezer, a cream separator, two display fridge, and milk cans. 

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Management and Operation

The outlet is managed and operated by Sangay Jamtsho, a 32 years old entrepreneur. He is a chairman of the Sonam Gonor Detshen who operates Milk Processing Unit at Yangtse town.

Currently, four active dairy groups consisting of 47 females and 51 males from three gewogs viz Ramjar, Teodtsho, and Khamdang are supplying fresh milk to the outlet. However, the outlet also buys the fresh milk from the non-dairy group members.

Sangay Jamtsho drives his private van for milk collection, 3 to 4 times in a week, from dairy groups. However, few dairy farmers manage to reach out to the outlet. When milk is brought by the farmers themselves to the outlet, they are fetched Nu. 35 per liter. In the case of the door to door collection, they are fetched with Nu.34.  

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A total of 300 to 500 liters of milk is being collected at a time. Out of which 80% of the milk collected is directly taken to the Yangtse Milk Processing Unit for product diversification. 

At Milk Processing Unit in Yangtse, the fresh milk is diversified into cheese, buttermilk, fresh milk, yogurt, butter, clarified butter (ghee), hard cheese, curd and churned curd (lassi). Around 50% of the products are transported to Doksum outlet for sale.

Products sold and income generated

At the outlet, all the diverse dairy products are being sold at a reasonable price. The gross monthly income earned is Nu. 144120 on an average.

Sl no	Product	Price (Nu)	Average Monthly sale (July –Oct)	Average Monthly Amount (Nu)
1	Milk (Liter)	35/ltr	183	6405
2	Curd (litre)	50/ltr	224	11200
3	Butter milk (litre)	30/ltr	924	27720
4	Cheese (piece)	45/piece	586	26370
5	butter big (kg)	300/kg	60	18000
6	butter small (kg)	130/kg	8	1040
7	Yogurt (cup)	35/cup	69	2415
8	Ghee (bottle)	190/bottle	258	49020
9	Lassi (cup)	25/cup	78	1950

A Definite Market for Fresh Milk and Youth Employment

This outlet is likely to have a good prospect in Trashi Yangtse Dzongkhag to alleviate poverty by creating a market for fresh milk, thereby increasing income generation of our dairy farmers. In the past, when there was no outlet, selling fresh milk was not practiced. Rather, milk was always home processed into cheese and butter, which incurred lots of time and was challenging to sell in the market. Mr. Chekey, Assistant Dzongkhag Livestock officer says, “the farmers could not sell their milk, so it was processed into cheese and butter. Most of the farmers often ran into loss due to the unprofitable sale of the dairy products at low cost.” “Now that the outlet is being put in place, farmers do not face the issue of marketing their fresh milk” he continued.  

It also reduces youth unemployment. Currently, Dorji Wangmo, a 25 years old graduate from the College of Language and Culture Studies at Taktse is employed as a sales manager and is being paid Nu. 5000 per month.

Sangay Jamtsho is also planning to collect milk from nearby gewogs including Yallang, Jamkhar, and Tomijangsa under Trashi Yangtse Dzongkhag.

Reported by – GKMO

(A full fledged story on Sangay Jamtsho will be featured in “Story of Change” 2020 publication)