*Corresponding author: Hari Prasad Pandey, Ministry of Forests and Environ- ment, Kathmandu, Nepal, E-mail: pandeyhp123@gmail.com Citation: Banskota N, Pandey HP, Upreti S, Shah KK, Paudyal BR, et al. (2020) Milk Production and Value Chain in Rural Area of Nepal: A Case from Gandaki River Basin. J Dairy Res Tech 3: 022. Received: September 21, 2020; Accepted: November 02, 2020; Published: November 09, 2020 Copyright: © 2020 Banskota N, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits un- restricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Livestock husbandry is directly linked to food security and is con- sidered one of the most crucial components of the agriculture system. As an agrarian economy, livestock farming is the backbone of Ne- pal’s food security and agriculture system. The government of Nepal is concentrating its eforts to increase milk production and marketing through livestock farmers to uplift their livelihoods. Economically, Nepal is based on agriculture where livestock farming is the back- bone of the system. Physiographically, it is divided into fve regions: High Himal, High Mountain, Middle Mountain, Churia, and Terai [1]. Hydrologically, it has four basins (Koshi, Gandaki, Karnali and Ma- hakali). Within such circumstances, the government is focusing its eforts through policy and plan to raise agriculture products including milk and milk products [2,3]. Agroforestry and private forestry have become a supportive sector to supply fodders in milk production and livestock development [3-5]. Milk production is the regular activity in Nepal which holds cash/money from the urban which creates self-em- ployment within the farm family and employment to the milk sellers both within the rural and concrete area. Dairy is a promising sector for providing signifcant opportunities for livelihood management in Nepal. Some researchers have found that the production of 100 liters of milk within the geographic region can create full-time employment within the country [6]. Production of milk, as a dairy sub-sector, contributes income and nutritious food particularly for vulnerable groups of individuals like children, preg- nant women, elderly and helps within the rural food security [7]. It shares around one-third of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and contributes almost two-thirds (63%) within the livestock GDP in Nepal. In Nepal, over 100,000 farm households are involved in the dairy business and quite 1750 Primary Milk Producers’ Cooper- atives (PMPCs) are engaged in delivering milk from rural to urban ar- eas in Nepal [8]. The dairy sector is gradually emerging as a commer- cial/ semi-commercial enterprise particularly within the semi-urban and all geographical regions of the country [7]. Cattle and Bufaloes are the main dairy species for milk production within the country. De- spite the larger cattle population, the bufalo contributes around 71% of the annual milk production and only 26% by cattle [9]. Banskota N, et al. J Dairy Res Tech 2020, 3: 022 DOI: 10.24966/DRT-9315/100022 HSOA Journal of Dairy Research and Technology Research Article Niraj Banskota 1 , Hari Prasad Pandey 2 *, Sujaya Upreti 3 , Kabita Kumari Shah 4 , Bijaya Raj Paudyal 5 and Sagar Paudel 6 1 Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Nepal 2 Ministry of Forests and Environment, Kathmandu, Nepal 3 National Pasture and Fodder Research Program, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal 4 Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Gokuleshwor College, Tribhuvan University, Nepal 5 Former Director-General of Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management, Nepal 6 National Cattle Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal Milk Production and Value Chain in Rural Area of Nepal: A Case from Gandaki River Basin Abstract Livestock husbandry is directly linked to food security and is considered one of the most crucial components of the agriculture system. As an agrarian economy, livestock farming is the backbone of Nepal’s food security and agriculture system. The government of Nepal is concentrating its eforts to increase milk production and marketing through livestock farmers to uplift their livelihoods. Sever- al authors have studied milk production and its value chain efects on farmers. However, there are very limited studies involving milk cooperatives in the Gandaki River Basin of Nepal. The paper aims to analyze the existing status of milk production and milk products val- ue chain in Chanauli of Chitwan, Dumre of Tanahun and Palungtar of Gorkha districts in Gandaki River Basin of Nepal. Both descriptive and exploratory research design was done where both qualitative and quantitative information was gathered. Simple random sampling was used. The farmers providing at least 10 liters of milk production in the cooperatives were selected for the study purpose. Further, they also provided information on livestock feeding materials and preferences. During the study, the in-depth assessment was carried out on milk and milk products marketing through identifed actors and their relationships. The results of the study revealed that bufa- loes alone contributed about 84% of the milk production in the Gan- daki River Basin. The milk production, butter conversion from milk, market sell, and quantity of milk difer by season, quality of fodder availability, and type of breed of livestock. The key actors in the for- mal dairy value system included milk producer farmers, milk-produc- ing cooperatives, milk collection cooperatives, and milk processing plants/cheese factories. Further, milk and milk products were chan- neled to consumers through both formal and informal marketing systems through private and dairy development cooperatives. The results give insight for policy-shaping for seasonal and sustainable milk and milk-products production which could support the livelihood of the rural communities. The result would be a reference for live- stock husbandry for milk production in similar socio-economic set- tings. Keywords: Dairy; Fodder tree; Milk cooperative; Milk product; Value chain