New milk analyser excites dairy farmers

By JOSEPHAT SIROR

As demand for high quality and fear for contaminated milk increases, a new technology that could restore the fading confidence in the country’s dairy sector is under way, thanks to advancements in technology.

The new milk sampling equipment takes a ‘network approach’ using advanced technology that connects the entire sampling processing system through general pocket radio service (GPRS), short message service (SMS) and radio frequency identification (RFID).

The milk analyser has the potential to boost efficiency in the dairy industry and it is touted as critical to weeding out problems associated with quality.

TOP: Milk analyser in its developed stage. Below, the Sunbeam device that has been tried in Kenya. PHOTOS:JOSEPHAT SIROR/STANDARD]

The gadget detects different components of milk including fat content, added water, solid and fat material at a touch of a button.

Fitted with a small screen, numerical keypad and extended data cartridge, the analyser automatically relays data from one point, say a collection centre to the main dairy processing plants.

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The gadget posts information as pertains to quality and quantity of milk delivered, hence reviving the dimming hopes of dairy farmers who have been losing millions of litres due to the manual weighing scale currently in use in the sector.

According to Santosh Solanki, head of Sunbeam Technologies Ltd, the milk analyser can automatically relay information through the modern day Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from remote networks of milk processing plants.

At the same time, the analyser can trigger real time results of the sampled milk to the main server of a given processor.

"This shortens the time of processing receipts to farmers common in conventional methods used in the country today," says Solanki.

wrong entries

He says prior to delivery of milk to the plant, results would have been sampled and posted at collection point. "This helps to minimise errors occasioned by wrong data entries as done in the manual processes," he says.

The same information is relayed back by data processing unit of the analysing system in printed format on a slip.

This gives farmers and clerks alike confidence because there is an opportunity to verify information on milk components right from a collection point without necessarily delivering and waiting for results at a milk plant.

Contrary to usual delays caused by long queues in the milk processing plants, the system can transmit corresponding information with overall daily capacity of a given plant through GIS systems. The system can equally record data collected from farmers to a plant reflecting the quantity and quality as well as detecting any drop of water if added to the milk.

Solanki says the milk analyser has measuring speed of up to 100 farmers in an hour with an estimated 98 per cent accuracy.

The milk sampled through the analyser can help farmers seek veterinary services for a particular cow or breed if milk contamination is detected.

regular checks

"It also allows farmers room to make regular checks on a particular breed while observing the quality or quantity of milk with reference to printed slips," Solanki says.

This new technology could transform the efficiency of the struggling dairy sector as seen early this year when millions of shillings went down the drain due to milk glut.

Solanki says with this technology, milk processors can formulate a proactive plan through its accurate records and share the same with farmers to avoid unnecessary costs.

"With such technology, the sector would have averted the milk glut, thanks to its easy-to-use and accurate data on annual production of milk in the country," he says.

"The data stored from a processing plant can help the dairy sector grow since its information could be used to predict the future performance and hence avoid any possible incidences like glut."

However, the new device is far from being adopted for use on a wide scale due to lack of funds. According to the New KCC acting Managing Director Milcah Mugo, the State-processor has no plans of adopting the sampling technology just yet.

"We have an annual budget for packaging technology but not sampling, as it is not our priority," said Mugo.

This means farmers delivering milk to the New KCC collection points will continue putting up with long queues.

But what is more worrying to farmers is the fact that there have been cases of falsification about the quality of delivered milk under the manual regime.

There have been concerns in the past that some conniving clerks occasionally take advantage of the long queues to defraud farmers through deliberate wrong entries.

Dairy farmers have also had to bear the brunt of crooks in the sector who exploit their little technological know-how to under record their deliveries.

The milk sampling technology has already been demonstrated to the Ministries of Co-operatives and Livestock.

In a recent exhibition at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, farmers warmed up to the device as key to checking the high costs in the dairy sector.

This technology is already in use in Rwanda as part of Government efforts to cushion farmers.

Solanki is, however, confident that previous discussions with stakeholders in the dairy sector would see farmers transiting from manual systems to the server-based device to record their deliveries.