Pemba Island is part of the Zanzibar archipelago, forming one of the administrative regions of
Tanzania. As compared to mainland Tanzania, a higher proportion of the population in Pemba is
rural, basing their livelihoods essentially on agriculture, and considerably higher poverty exists. Since
the islands have become tsetse-free in 1997, the cattle population has steadily increased, consisting
predominantly of local cattle of the so-called ‘Zanzibar Zebu’ type. Despite the relatively low
productivity of local cows, milk production has also increased in Pemba. In order to identify potential
for feed interventions by the IFAD-funded MilkIT project, the dairy value chain has been investigated
on Pemba Island in July 2012 by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with local partners. To assess feed
availability, the FEAST tool has been applied in two group sessions with producers. In addition,
trader/vendors, input and service suppliers, and consumers have been visited and interviewed
mostly along semi-structured questionnaires. Most important conclusions from this study are:
? Milk production has increased over the recent past in Pemba, but local consumption of milk
and milk products remains low.
? Promotion of consumption of milk and milk products is needed to better match supply and
demand in Pemba.
? Improved marketing of milk and milk products both on Pemba Island and to Unguja Island
and the Tanzanian mainland currently requires more attention than further increasing milk
production in Pemba. This also includes more professional processing and packaging than
done at present.
? Because of its focus on using feed interventions to increase milk production, the IFADfunded
MilkIT1 project should not regard Pemba as a priority intervention area under the
current circumstances of dairy development on the island.