Maa lady milks money from project

By Robert Nyasato

Milka Kakenya Ranka has risen from a dependant housewife to a well-established dairy milk supplier  in Narok County, thanks to a deal with Brookside Dairy.

As a young girl growing up in sleepy Enoosaen Village in Transmara East, Narok County, Milka Kakenya Ranka was passionate about cattle farming.

 She kept harbouring dreams of one day owning her dairy animals as she herded her parents’ indigenous cattle.

“I used to feel offended if someone beat or mishandled the cows,” she recalls. Cattle rearing was in her blood from an early age.

To her, the Zebu cows were more of pets than animals for milking or slaughtering. It is this passion that drove Milka to dairy farming becoming one of the most successful dairy farmers in Narok County.

intensive job                             

Initially, she kept 200 heads of indigenous cattle, milking 50 of them, which produced ten litres a day.

“To get the ten litres or two cups per cow daily took me four hours, a very intensive exercise. It was a struggle,” she explains.

But the turning point to her dairy farming sojourn came in 2000 when the Government livestock and agriculture officers held a field visit in her village.

“The officers introduced us to the idea of modernising our livestock breeds to improve on their productivity and make more money in the process,” Milka says.

She ran with the idea.

Two years later, she acquired one modern cow at Sh15,000 and a few months after added another at Sh35,000.

From the two animals, Milka is now a proud owner of 13 modern cows; all the eleven having been calved by the two initially bought animals in just a span of eleven years, meaning she adds one calve to her herd annually.

So far, she has replaced all the indigenous breeds and cleared the old stock.

But how did she begin?

Profitable dairy rearing became a reality to Milka four years ago when she struck a deal with Brookside Dairy to deliver her produce to them.

“Before entering into contract, I used to sell my milk locally to brokers at a throw away price,” she recalls.

She would sell a litre of milk to middlemen at Sh8 per litre.

Milka is one of the 145,000 dairy farmers in the country contracted by Brookside Dairy to deliver milk to the processor and receive their pay every month.

From her dairy stock, the farmer gets 70 kilogrammes of milk from five cows daily, which she delivers to Brookside. 

exploitation

“Thanks to Brookside, exploitation by middlemen who used a bottle and, at times, faulty scales to measure our milk is a thing of the past,” she says.

What makes the dairy farmer even happier is the fact that once she delivers her produce to the processor, her pay is guaranteed irrespective of what happens thereafter.

Before, the middlemen could return empty handed to report that the milk was stolen or got split on the way.

“We also get our pay through the bank, which means saving is encouraged as opposed to daily cash, which we went on to spend without saving,” she explains.

 And from the Brookside earnings, she managed to save and establish a primary school — Enoosaen Complex Academy in 2011. The school is now at Class Three with a pupil enrollment of 115.

 From the dairy rearing proceeds, Milka has engaged two employees and is comfortably paying fees for her six children, easing the burden on her husband.

The animals also acted as a security for her to access bank loan of Sh250,000, part of which she used to invest in the  school venture.

 Although she is yet to start intensive care for the grade cows as advised by experts, Milka feeds them on napier grass, which she cultivates in her farm.

 A few farmers have started emulating Milka’s example, but many are still obsessed with owning large numbers of indigenous stock despite the challenges associated with that cattle rearing system.

The indigenous breeds graze in the field all day long, have poor productivity, are prone to diseases and take on average six years to calve while the modern ones take 18 months.

modernised farming

Milka is determined to share her secret with fellow Maa women.

Noting that most of the Maa women are suppressed because they lack good schooling, she is determined to change this.

Milka is also involved in mixed farming including horticulture, grain and cane growing at her 40 acre farm.

For now, she is focused on how to improve production of her herd from the current ten kilogrammes yield per day per cow.

Her advice to Maa community, which is synonymous with cattle rearing: “Stop worrying over the number of cows you own; concentrate on the returns.”