County unveils free milk programme for nursery schools

The Meru County government will soon start giving learners in public Early Childhood Development Education centres (ECDE) free milk.

Governor Peter Munya said his government would work to ensure that the nursery schools had all the necessary facilities.

"We want the children to look forward to going to school instead of crying when their parents get them out of bed in the morning," said Mr Munya when he commissioned a new dispensary in Igembe North constituency

He added: "Apart from the free milk, my government will work to ensure the classrooms at the centres are comfortable. We want to lay a good foundation for our children. We want them to be as comfortable as possible because we want them to love school right from the start."

He regretted that most nursery school classrooms in the county are poorly built.

"We are building two nursery schools in all our 45 wards and they will have the best classrooms in primary schools," he said. "Our intention is to provide the best learning environment for our children."

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The governor said the move was also expected to help provide a market for pastoralists and small-scale dairy farmers.

"This initiative will not only boost our children's nutrition but also provide a market for dairy farmers. We, therefore, encourage farmers to rear more dairy cows as there will be a ready market for their produce," he said.

Ready market

Dairy farmers and milk processors in Meru County welcomed the initiative, with the key player in the region, Meru Central Dairy Union, saying they have the capacity to supply the milk.

The union's officials said their processor is capable of producing up to 80,000 litres of milk a day.

The Chairman of the Dairy Board in the region, who is also the Chairman of Nkando Dairy Centre in Mwanganthia, Elijah Mosoti, called on members to increase production ahead of the free milk project.

"The plan by the county government is good tidings for dairy farmers. I urge more residents of Nkando to venture into dairy farming and produce quality milk to benefit from the ready market," Mosoti said.

However, the Meru County Assembly Agriculture Committee Chairman, Kaumbuthu Chabari, said they were still working on the modalities of implementing the ambitious project.

"Considering that we have about 800 ECDE centres in the county, we will have to start with a pilot programme to ensure that it is workable," Mr Chabari said.