Kirinyaga county increases production of subsidised animal feeds

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Kirinyaga County government has increased the production of subsidised animal feeds as the demand grows.

The animal feeds that are produced under the Wezesha Programme are distributed to dairy farmers.

The feeds are produced at the Kiaga Animal Production unit which has seen an increase from 1,200 to 10,000 bags.

Governor Anne Waiguru said the introduction of affordable artificial insemination services has seen more farmers venture into dairy farming.

"We have seen an increased demand for our feeds. Most people in Kirinyaga are in dairy farming due to affordable artificial insemination services," she said.

Speaking when she flagged off a consignment of bulk subsidised animal feeds to farmers through cooperative societies, Waiguru said the subsidised feeds have helped lower the cost of milk production.

The 360 bags of dairy feed for members of the Kirima Dairy Cooperative Society will be distributed to livestock farmers for Sh2,300 per 70kg bag against the current market price of between Sh2900 and Sh3500.

"This programme is helping farmers access affordable and quality animal meals. It has helped in lowering the cost of production thus allowing farmers to earn more money," Waiguru said.

"This effort has led to increased milk production from 2.5 litres to 7.8 litres. Our aim is achieving at least 12 litres per cow daily," the Governor added.

To cope with the demand for subsidised feeds, Waiguru announced that the county has added two manual and two semi-automatic duo processing lines to increase the capacity of the factory to 310 bags per day.

"When we started this programme, this production factory had only one line with a capacity of producing 110 bags of 70 kg animal feeds per day. Today the factory has grown big and we are now able to supply to many farmers cheap but quality animal feeds," she said.

The governor said reducing the cost of feeds will enable farmers to earn more from dairy farming.

The county has partnered with cooperatives including Kirima, Rukingo and Pondago for the distribution of subsidised feeds to dairy farmers.

"As we flag off this consignment of 360 bags of dairy feeds to Kirima Dairy Cooperative Society, allow me to say that our county has great potential in dairy production and investing in affordable and quality animal feeds, Artificial Insemination and value addition projects can turn around the fortunes of thousands of dairy farmers," the governor said.

She noted that the county has cumulatively distributed 3,358 bags of dairy feeds through the programme.

Waiguru said the county has also helped cooperatives deal with increased milk production, by providing them with milk coolers, standby generators and yoghurt processing machines for value addition. Kirima, Rukingo, Pondago and Rung'eto cooperatives have benefited from this initiative.