Valuable lessons learnt in Uasin Gishu, FarmKenya farmers’ clinic

More than 70 dairy farmers from Uasin Gishu County are on a two-day training and interactive forum with agricultural experts in Farm Kenya Clinic organised by The Standard Group through its FarmKenya Connect initiative.

The clinic enlightened dairy producers on skills and techniques geared towards enhancing productivity to enable them to reap the maximum from their investments.

The FarmKenya Connect training kicked off on Thursday at Ndupawa Prestige in Eldoret ahead of exhibitions by agricultural players at the Eldoret Sports Club held today (Friday) spilling over to Saturday.

Uasin Gishu County Government in conjunction the Standard Group is the main sponsor of the training and exhibition in sync with the reality that the region is Kenya’s food basket.

The Standard Group’s FarmKenya Clinics initiative is a platform for farmers to interact with experts and other successful farmers to share knowledge, networking and increasing yields.

Information is disseminated across all Standard Group media platforms – Television, Radio, Print, Digital and Outdoor.

Beneficiaries of the training, who will be issued with certificates, were taken through key dairy areas including business planning and records, livestock registration, opportunities along value chain, dairy breeding, calf care and weaning, heifer rearing, milk hygiene, feeding and nutrients, dairy machinery and tools.

The farmers from various Farmers Cooperative Societies from Soy, Kapseret, Kesses, Moiben, Turbo and Ainabkoi sub-counties in Uasin Gishu were trained by Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) experts Patrick Kalama, Mary Ongubo, Meshack Ruto and Benard Mukasa assisted by experts from the event sponsors.

The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology participated as an expert partner. Other sponsors included African Grain Care Equipment Limited (AGCE), National Bank of Kenya, Elgon Kenya, Moiben Connections Limited, World Animal Protection, Rift Valley Machinery Services Ltd (RVM) Coopers K-Brands Limited, MERRYCHEM Company Limited and Kukuchic.

The dairy farmers were trained on business sills and opportunities through the dairy value chain.

They were also taken through ideal animal husbandry practices, including good hygiene, feeding, vaccination and disease prevention through regular observation of dairy breeds.

“Dairy breeds must get good feeds, water, nutrients in good quality from all stages as calves, heifers, served heifers and lactating cows,” said Dr Odera Owino from Elgon Kenya.

Farmers were asked to ensure sources of feeds including hay, silage, bush grass, concentrates, vitamins and nutrients were in good hygiene to ensure that produce is healthy for consumers. ?