Sidama's rural women are about to change their traditional way of butter processing
The first test of new butter churn, with a large opening, capable of churning cream as well as milk took place in Arbagona District in the Sidama Zone Helping Ethiopia’s rural women with butter processing Women all over Ethiopia process milk into butter in rural households, perhaps with the exception of areas where consumption of milk in coffee or tea is common. The LIVES project’s baseline surveys results also indicate that most households sell small quantities in local markets and this constitutes one of the income sources for women. Butter processing is based on age old traditions with local churns made of pottery or other local materials. Women process soured milk which is accumulated over a 2 to 5 day period. Because most households produce only small quantities of milk each day, women in some locations form groups to collectively process the soured milk from the group members in one churn. This reduces the individual labour time spent on churning by each wom