At the Faculty of Food Technology (FTU) of the “Isa Boletini” University in Mitrovica, the Center of Expertise will be opened, which aims to treat water discharged from the dairy industry and increase the quality of milk products. For this purpose, an agreement was signed between the Association of Dairymen of Kosovo (SHQK), FTU, the University “Van Hall Larenstein” from the Netherlands and the organization “YUNIKO”, created in the Netherlands, which are partners of this project.

The dean of FTU, Milaim Sadiku, said that the idea is for this Center of Expertise to serve as a regional center for countries such as Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. “Given the development of the dairy industry and the need to treat discharged water and increase the quality of milk, this center will be extremely important for this sector,” he said.

According to him, the first objective of the Center of Expertise is to facilitate ShQK to become more stable and more competitive. “The focus will be on challenges related to wastewater treatment, improvement of production processes and energy efficiency.”

While, as a second objective, according to dean Sadiku, it is for the Center of Expertise to create a cooperation link between the dairy sector of Kosovo and the European ones through the link with organizations from the EU countries. In this context, he also mentions the participation in EU and local projects as well as the development of expertise and knowledge through exchanges with the EU

Meanwhile, Gani Durmishaj, president of the SCKK, said that in Kosovo there is an increase in the lack of high-quality milk and its products, therefore there is insufficient production of quality milk, there is increased competition from producers abroad and there is a need to reduce the pressure of environmental impact. “All these factors make the Center of Expertise a point of reference for the dairy industry in Kosovo and probably in the region as well.”

Among the main activities that are planned to be carried out at the Center of Expertise are: providing technical assistance to ShQK and dairies in their problems with wastewater treatment, milk processing and energy efficiency, to assist ShQK in problems related to environment with the Government of Kosovo, to provide an adequate infrastructure, equipment and knowledge for conducting research, for the execution of wastewater sampling and for laboratory analysis.

Also, the Center of Expertise is supposed to assist the SCK with education and training on the problems with the environment and the production of dairy products, to include an expert in the dairy sector from the EU for the presentation of new technologies and developments, to facilitate students from Kosovo and the EU to receive practical courses, to carry out experiments and to conduct research together with dairy companies, to help ShQK in obtaining local and international funds, to connect ShQK and/or Kosovo dairies with international and EU dairies and organizations, etc.

The Expertise Center will use FTU’s laboratories and equipment and will be at the service of all dairy farmers in Kosovo.