At the end of their five days in Madagascar’s capital city, Antananarivo—or Tana, as it is called by the locals—officials of the TSIRO dairy cooperative determined the results of their participation in the Livestock and Animal Production Fair: from the sale of 100 liters of yogurt, 200 kg of butter and 60 kg of cheese—volumes previously requiring three months to move—the cooperative netted a record week’s profit of nearly 750,000 ariary, or approximately $470.

When representatives of the cooperative arrived in Tana to set up for the fair, their expectations were tempered; they stocked their booth with limited quantities of stirred yogurt, Gouda cheese, and butter. When more than 300 customers bought nearly everything on the first day, TSIRO’s Marketing Supporting Agent, Mrs. Angèle, made a call to Tsiroanomandidy to request an urgent shipment of much, much more product.

That was only the beginning. Immediately following the close of the fair in mid-May, the milk collection and processing center received calls from new buyers interested in seeing a regular supply of the company’s products in the capital. TSIRO, located 150 miles west of Tana in the city of Tsiroanomandidy, is now pursuing the 1.4 million new customers that can be accessed through further penetration of this market.

A recent evaluation of retail sales in Tana indicated that although the market for yogurt includes most consumers, only middle-class and upper-class households purchase cheese and butter. While the bulk of Madagascar’s cheese and butter are produced by the country’s two prominent dairy companies, consumers appreciate variety among these products, as is demonstrated by a steady demand for Muenster and spiced Gouda cheese. This fact gives hope to small processors such as TSIRO in the production of specialty products for niche markets.

Recognizing the Livestock and Animal Production Fair as an ideal opportunity for TSIRO and other small processors to promote their products, the Madagascar Dairy Development Project provided 150,000 ariary, or about $94, for the Malagasy Dairy Board (MDB) to rent a fair booth. The MDB, in turn, allowed TSIRO and another small processor to sell their products from the booth. Like TSIRO, the other processor reported substantial sales at the fair.

The Madagascar Dairy Development Project, which is implemented by
Land O’Lakes International Development Division and is funded by the U.S. Department for Agriculture, is increasing the commercialization of the country’s dairy industry in part by strengthening milk and dairy product marketing.
Land O’Lakes has suggested—and project beneficiaries have adopted—strategies to achieve this goal, including product diversification and promotion.