Milk and its by-products: A source of livelihood for people in rural and urban areas

Milk and its by-products serve as the main source of livelihood for people in rural as well as urban areas in Pakistan. Each day, livestock farmers bring milk from rural areas to urban areas and sell it to milk shops. One such example provides a story for the area where JEN’s office is located in Peshawar city where the milk is brought from JEN’s target area in Aka-khel, Bara Khyber Agency.

Farmers bring milk to shops and markets in Peshawar and sell it there. One kilogram of milk is sold at Rs.80/kg. One farmer sells approximately 8 to 10 kg of milk from 2 cows per day. This earns around 640 to 800 rupees for a farmer in a day. A large portion of this income goes to pay for kitchen expenses of the farmer’s family.

[A big plate full of yogurt]


[Yogurt plates ready to sell on a shelf]

According to one shop owner near JEN’s office, around 550 to 600 kg of milk is purchased and sold on a daily basis from morning to evening. Half of this portion of milk is converted to milk by-products such as yogurt and butter which customers use on daily basis. It takes around one hour to deliver the milk to market from the rural area. Milk trading is not only a source of livelihood for livestock farmers and milk shop owners but also contributes to the improved food security of the market. JEN staff are working on the supply chain for the milk market to capitalize upon it and to meet its project objectives in the future.

[Selling depending upon how much customers wish to buy. The price is 250g for 30 yen]


【JEN is now accepting donations. Your help would be very much appreciated.
DONATE here】