Madagascar: the anger of milk producers
The closure of the AAA factory endangers a few thousand jobs, direct or indirect, dairy farmers, farmers, suppliers and customers.
Sarah Tétaud / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Hundreds of liters of milk spilled in the streets of Antsirabe and Betafo, two towns located nearly 200 km south of the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo.
An action carried out this Saturday morning, September 5 by dairy breeders and milk producers angry after the closure by the tax authorities of the AAA dairy factory in this region, last week.
These peasants no longer manage to sell their goods.
A factory that belongs to the agrifood group of former president Marc Ravalomanana.
Four stores of the same group and distributing dairy products from this factory have also been closed by the General Directorate of Taxes in the past two weeks.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Laetitia Bezain
“
No one buys our milk anymore.
The peasants are suffering,
”we can hear in a video that has been circulating on social networks.
There were around a hundred of them in front of Antsirabe station, in the city center, and in Betafo, 20 km away, to show their fed up after the AAA factory closed.
“
We threw away these liters of milk to show our despair,”
explains Claude Karin, milk collector and breeder.
We don't agree with the government's decision to close the factory that has always bought our merchandise.
Today we sell our milk to coffee vendors, artisan cheese and yoghurt makers.
I produce 215 liters of milk per day, but these small sellers buy me a maximum of 15 liters.
We don't know what to do anymore.
We can't live like this anymore.
"
"
Taken hostage
"
The region where the plant is located is the most milk producing area in Madagascar.
The peasants have already struggled during the confinement to sell their goods.
Radezy, a cow breeder, emptied a 15-liter can of milk in the streets of Betafo.
“
The closure of this factory is a total loss of my source of income,” he
laments.
During confinement she had reduced the quantities purchased and now she is completely closed.
There is this
problem between the factory and the state,
but they have to settle it on their own because all the milk producers are being held hostage.
We are proposing that the State allow Triple A to continue operating or else give us an alternative.
They can't leave us like this.
"
Before its closure, Triple A processed around 10,000 liters of milk per day and sourced from 2,000 breeders.
►
To read also: Madagascar: sealing of a second store of the former president Marc Ravalomanana
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Madagascar
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