Evaluation of Smallholder Dairy Farmers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Factors Contributing to Hygienic Production of Raw Milk in Malawi’s Blantyre Agriculture Development Division

Dairy products provide nutrition to households but, could also serve as a source of many milk-borne diseases when produced under poor hygiene conditions. This quantitative, cross-sectional study administered 410 questionnaires, collected 90 raw milk samples and visited 90 farms to evaluate hygienic milk production practices in Malawi’s Blantyre Agriculture Development Division (BLADD). Descriptive statistics were used to summarise questionnaire, farm and laboratory observations data.The majority of farmers 86% and 66.6% (n=410) had formal education and structured pre-training in hygienic milk production respectively. The overall KAP knowledge was only 54%, most smallholder dairy farmers reported positive attitudes at 88% and excellent practices at 63%. Few farmers (27.1%; n=410) had low aggregate score of knowledge, attitude and practice were six (OR=5.910, 95% CI: 1.997-17.489) times less likely to produce hygienic milk. Inadequate pre-training and a low aggregate score were identified as key factors behind the failure of smallholder farmers in Malawi’s BLADD to meet Malawian and European Union (EU) standards, raising concerns about potential milk-borne diseases. Out of 90 raw milk samples analyzed for presence of E. coli, 11 (12%) and 50 (55.5%) raw milk samples were within acceptable limits of Malawian and European Union standards respectively. These low percentages obtained could be attributed to unsanitary animal quarters, as half of smallholder dairy farmers in Malawi’s Blantyre Agriculture Development Division do not remove waste daily and some workers milk cows without supervision. In conclusion, smallholder dairy farmers had positive attitudes and good milk hygiene practices without grounded knowledge and it was difficult to meet legal limits of Malawi and European Union Standards for E. coli. Therefore, regular ongoing annual refresher farm management trainings and monitoring of hazards in raw milk production are important for safe milk