KCC Kitale plant gets Sh350m from State for upgrading

The government has given Sh350 million for modernising the New Kenya Creameries Cooperative (KCC) milk processing plant in Kitale.

Nixon Sigey, the New KCC Managing director, said the investment will fast-track the procurement and installation of the latest dairy processing machinery to help in the diversification of dairy products.

Sigey (pictured) said the face-lift will help increase milk intake and enhance value addition.

“The ongoing modernisation of this plant will cost Sh350 million. This includes the acquisition of modern machinery to help us diversify dairy products and scale up value addition,” Sigey said when Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya and his Devolution counterpart Eugene Wamalwa toured the plant.

The plant’s intake reaches 500 million litres annually and it makes butter and ghee.

Sigey disclosed that the ongoing revamp of KCC plants across the country will increase milk delivery and farmers’ earnings from Sh4.5 billion to Sh6 billion annually.

“We expect that at the end of the modernisation programme, farmers will earn up to Sh6 billion from milk deliveries to New KCC,” he said.

Sigey said the company received Sh500 million from the government early this year to mop up excess milk from the market and made milk powder.

“We have tried to ensure the stability of dairy prices and prices for delivered milk have improved from Sh28 to Sh38 per litre,” he said. Munya emphasised the need for farmers to enhance production from the current eight litres to 15 litres per cow.

The CS urged dairy farmers to take advantage of the new semen centre at Agricultural Development Corporation to secure high valued genetics, noting that the New KCC investment will increase their earnings.