Rolling Out Roki

Making sure new products and services for rural producers make it to all regions and communities of Georgia is a key part of the ALCP2.

Bebo’s Kveli Dairy (Grandma’s Cheese) is owned by, based in and supplied by the Azerbaijani community in Marneuli municipality.  Most of its suppliers do not speak Georgian or Russian and can easily miss new products or information available in the mainstream Georgian market.  The dairy partnered with a local Azeri run local vet pharmacy supplied by Roki Ltd, the leading veterinary inputs company in Georgia, to deliver a training for twenty women and men milk supplier farmers to help them cope with the adverse effects of climate change on their livestock production in Kulari Village Marneuli.

Roki is currently involved in developing, marketing and promoting affordable inputs which will help livestock producers, counter the negative impacts of climate change on their cattle. It is piloting the sale of these products through eighteen vet pharmacies across Georgia before hoping to scale up through a network of over 400 vet pharmacies across Georgia.

ALCP2 research has shown that climate change is leading to more prolonged and extreme heat and drought, and sudden drops in temperature and extreme cold reducing the availability and quality of pasture and other feed and considerably increasing environmental stress on livestock.  Results include weakened immune systems and decreased appetite which makes animals more susceptible to parasite infestation and other infections such as mastitis ultimately resulting in reduced milk yield and live weight gain and can also lead to increased use of antibiotics.    

Roki has always delivered its products in the context of information and trainings on general animal husbandry and presented their new range in the context of a training,  of climate-smart products including pro and prebiotics, vitamins and feed additives, to effectively improve livestock immunity, enhance their digestion and provide protection from internal and external parasites.

Roki is enhancing product roll out through partnering with the Georgian Milk Mark Federation (GMMF) with its thirty-seven GMM dairy members covering 23,000 milk suppliers and linking them to the nearest of the eighteen partner vet pharmacies all offering low or no interest in store credit involved in the initial roll out.