State to work more closely with dairy farmers

The Government will work hand in hand with dairy farmers to boost their earnings, Deputy President William Ruto has said.

“It is not possible to talk about the economy without talking about farmers. We will work very closely with farmers across the country and with stakeholders in the dairy and livestock sector to improve not just their earnings, but also quality of products,” the DP said.

Speaking on Friday after he officially opened the 9th edition of the Brookside Livestock Breeders Show and Sale at Jamhuri Park in Nairobi, Ruto acknowledged that livestock farming contributed significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) necessitating its prioritisation in State policies.

“Livestock keeping, which includes camels, cows, goats and rabbits, contributes 12 per cent to the GDP of the country. Four per cent of that is from dairy farming.” In an effort to empower farmers, the State will also help them embrace new technology that will turn around their fortunes.

Under a new programme with Poland, the Government hopes to significantly reduce the breeding time for heifers, especially the high-yielding  by embracing synchronisation and embryo transfer technology.

“By next year we should be able to reduce the breeding time for heifers and achieve a pure breed by embryo transfer technology,” he said.

The country he noted,  produced 2.5 billion litres of milk per year, which translated to Sh210 billion in revenue. The country also produces 300,000 tonnes of meat which is Sh1 billion in revenue and 190 million trays of eggs, which contributes Sh65 million in revenue. And there is potential to achieve more, the DP noted.

To achieve that end, he said the State had already set in place various key measures all geared towards improving farmers’ earnings.

“The Government has increased the capacity of the bull station in Kabete from 900,000 straws of semen and it will be producing 1,200,000 straws by the end of the year.”

He also announced that the Government had set aside Sh5 million to install another bull station at the ADC Farm in Kitale.

In a bid to increase production of semen, the Government has installed liquid nitrogen plants in Eldoret, Meru, Sotik, Kirinyaga and Kabete.

Oil-based vaccines

“Previously, we only had one nitrogen plant in Nairobi but now farmers will have access to the new nitrogen plants. Plans are also underway to build more in Kakamega, Kitale, Marsabit, Kilifi and Kisii. The primary objective for increasing these liquid nitrogen plants is because with improved storage, it reduces the cost of semen for farmers by half,” said Ruto.

This will be done in conjunction with Brookside and other stakeholders. Additionally, the Government will also put in place new disease prevention mechanisms.

“With regard to liquid vaccines, we are transitioning from water-based to oil-based vaccines,” he said.

In the old vaccination programmes, the vaccine lasted for approximately six months but with the oil-based vaccines, farmers will only need to vaccinate their animals once a year, reducing the cost of vaccination by far.

The first phase of the new vaccination programme will be launched in September this year. The deputy president announced that 400,000 doses of the vaccines are already available for the exercise and will be dispensed once trials are completed.

Meanwhile, the three-day event that is sponsored by Brookside Dairy and ended yesterday, attracted a record 10,000 participants both local and international. Tellingly, there was a a high turn out of young people in the age bracket of between 18 and 35 years who turned up in search of answers.

Weekend Business interviewed a number of young people from the up coming farmers to the already established breeders who expressed interesting views. “I learnt about this event from the Standard. I came to learn how I can improve my breeds and expand my dairy project. I also want to learn about making my own animal feeds. Commercial feed is quite expensive,” Franciscah Immumba from Kakamega County who has 18 dairy cows, said.

Another crop of farmers were the greenhorns who were curious on how to start their dairy ventures. “I am on a fact finding mission. I just want to learn about all things dairy. I want to learn about the best breeds that produce good milk yields,” said one Victor from Kiambu County.

The other crop of farmers were the elderly who are already established and just want to learn a thing or two about how to push their farms to the next level.

“I have been a dairy farmer for years and I know a lot. But I came here to learn about technology like embryo transfer and smart ways to manage a dairy farm like using mobile phone application,” said Mzee Kamau Ndung’u.

Some of the popular stands that attracted traffic is the animal feed manufacturers, demonstrating that indeed animal feed is one of the biggest headaches for farmers. Actually, feeds account for more than 50 per cent of the total production costs.

At the show, various top class breed of cows, goats and sheep were entered into a competition where the animal with the most desirable qualities carried the day.