Cheese making in Ayacucho, Peru
Practical Action
To better illustrate the action, Danny Bautista showed us a flip chart on the wall of the cheese
plant that Ronald Huamani works in, which describes the dairy product production process.
“We obtained all this information from the primers provided by Practical Action” he remarked,
and we felt we were involved in something big.
The fruits of the project and what comes next
Danny Bautista is satisfied with what has been achieved so far. He has built up the capacity
of micro dairy producers, improving their cheese plants with a final product that “ensures
commercial and hygienic quality”. As a result, “the cheeses are well accepted in the local,
regional and national markets.”
Danny Bautista told us that one of his future plans is to “form producers’ associations” in
order to gain access to services more competitively and acquire products at lower prices.
“These associations”, said Danny, “will be in charge of managing the cheese plants in the
future.”
It is not all rosy, however. “There is still a lot to do”, remarked Danny Bautista. The project
has ended and now it is up to the beneficiaries themselves to continue developing what has
been achieved so far. “More support is needed to continue growing; I am sure that what we
have achieved so far is not even 25% of what we can do here. Some inputs are needed to
increase production and what two can produce now ten were producing in the same time
period. Obviously more training will be needed to continue improving the producers’ skills. It
is evident that despite knowing nothing about making cheese before, they are now producing
quality products. Imagine what they could do with better inputs.”
6