Abstract:
Value chain management is immensely important to the management of a network of interconnected businesses
involved in the eventual provision of the highest quality product and service packages required by end customers.
Dairy and dairy products are highly attached by microorganisms and products are damaged due to inappropriate
methods of packing, storage and transportation. Insufficient information flow; low productivity, low GDP
contribution from the dairy sector; poor processing capacity and lack of chilling centers are other major
handicaps. Therefore, this study aimed: to assess the different quality maintenance practices for developing a
Product Quality Index (PQI) for a dairy product and to make suggestions for improving quality through the
quality index of the dairy value chain. Wellawaya Divisional Secretariat (DS) division was purposively selected out
of 11 DS divisions of the district for the study since dairy production is the main occupation in that area. Stratified
random sampling method was used to select 20 small scales, 10 medium scales, and 10 large scale farmers while
the purposive sampling method was used to select, 10 collectors, 10 processors, 15 marketers and 15 consumers.
Primary data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire through a field survey. The PQI was
developed for this study which is varied from 1 to 100 values. The result showed that all the practices in the
Wellawaya area were shown medium standard based upon the mean marks. Animal nutrition management (6.0)
was the best practice and farmer level hygienic and quality practices (3.45) were the practices with lower marks in
the area. PQI of locally produced different dairy products were compared with the most popular dairy brand
available on the market. According to the newly developed PQI value for this study, locally produce curd and
yoghurts marks were varied from 29.5% to 64.6% and the PQI of the most popular branded curd and yoghurt
products was 77.8%. So, locally produced curd and yoghurt products which are produced at the Wellawaya
belong to medium and low-quality levels whereas the quality of the branded dairy products was high. In
conclusion, it can be sid that Hence we concluded that the quality standard of locally produced dairy products
were low as compared to branded dairy products. Therefore, it’s important to train actors in the value chain to
develop products with high-quality practices and suggests expanding the PQI value as an indicator for the quality
of the dairy value chain.
