Dairy farmers in Nyamira County are set to benefit from a guaranteed market after the country’s largest processor, Brookside, announced it had enhanced its raw-milk collection facilities in the area.
The move by Brookside to establish collection points in the county will see farmers benefit from assured payment for their milk and protect them from exploitation by hawkers in the informal market.
Brookside has also unveiled a programme to increase milk production in the county as it seeks to grow the dairy enterprise as a catalyst for rural development.
The firm’s Milk Procurement Director John Gethi said they were working with both farmers and dairy groups in Borabu, Manga and Masaba sub-counties on initiatives to increase production.
Data from the county livestock office indicates that farmers in Nyamira produce an average of 36 million litres of milk annually, with Borabu sub-county accounting for more than half of the total output in the area.
Mr Gethi said the processor’s collection points in the area will enable farmers access a reliable market.
“We have enhanced our raw milk collection infrastructure especially in Borabu and parts of Manga as we seek to provide an assured market for raw milk deliveries from farmers,” he said in Nyansiongo, Borabu sub-county.
“This month, we shall hold one of the biggest dairy training sessions for farmers in Manga, where we intend to position dairy as a key driver of the area's economy. Imparting skills in dairy production would be important in enabling farmers to produce more milk from their smallholder farms,” Mr Gethi said.
The Nyamira County government has developed a dairy breeding policy, which in part seeks to address animal husbandry challenges such as low uptake of artificial insemination services and in-breeding.
“We will work very closely with the devolved unit to ensure that dairy farmers are trained on best practices in animal rearing so as to increase milk production,” Gethi said.
Last year, dairy farmers in the South Rift, including parts of Bomet, Kilgoris and Nyamira, earned over Sh250 million from raw milk sales to Brookside. The income is expected to increase this year after the processor enhanced the operational capacity of its Sotik Cooling Station, which serves farmers in the region.
Mr Gethi said Brookside would train farmers on ways of transforming dairy into a reliable source of gainful employment.
He said smallholder farmers in the area have traditionally practiced dairy as a way of life.
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However, Brookside has identified skills on animal health, clean milk production, record keeping and financial services as some of the areas of improvement to help smallholders transform their farms into fully-fledged commercial enterprises.
“Dairy is an opportunity for gainful economic development. The farm must be treated as a business where optimisation of returns is key to the success of the enterprise,” he said.
“Our focus on smallholder dairy farmers is based on the need to attain sustainability in the dairy sector. We want to build capacity in the smallholder farmer to produce milk throughout all seasons and significantly reduce dependence on rain-fed dairy production,” he said.
It is estimated that over one million smallholder farmers are engaged in milk production, accounting for nearly half of the 3.1 billion litres of milk produced annually in Kenya, with the rest coming from farmers’ groups like co-operative societies.
According to the Brookside official, there is need to empower dairy farmers to access modern, reliable and low-cost technologies that would enable them improve their herds.
