Apollo Kimani scans his flashing phone screen in his farm in Githunguri, Kiambu County. As he unlocks the little gadget, numbers instantly update, giving him the cash offers received for the cattle he is auctioning online.
“This shows you everything you need to know and if you’re going to make money,” he says. Mr Kimani has been selling his cattle on OLX, earning more than double what the open market offers per head.
Inseminators from Fresha Co-operative Society had visited Kimani’s farm about three months ago and inseminated 10 heifers. Kimani said seven of the heifers have been confirmed pregnant, while the remaining three are being monitored.
“I believe that all the 10 heifers are pregnant. Currently, I supply Fresha Sacco with 200 litres of milk on a daily basis. The pregnant heifers would have been a good source for more milk, unfortunately I don’t have enough space to keep them, so I am selling them,” he said.
Like Kimani, Doris Waithuki, also a dairy farmer with Fresha Sacco, has to sell some of her livestock every three to four months to create space for newly born calves. Ms Waithuki is also capitalising on OLX to maximise her returns.
“The prices vary and depend on whether the heifer is pregnant or not. The highest price I’ve ever sold a heifer at is Sh200,000, which is very good income. Currently, prices range between Sh140,000 and Sh200,000,” said Kimani who sold 15 heifers to a farmer from Murang’a on OLX about three weeks ago.
Farmers who are members of the Fresha Co-operative society pay between Sh700 and Sh6,000 to have their cows artificially inseminated.
Kimani says the biggest advantage of using online platforms is that this gets rid of brokers, who take advantage of desperate farmers in open markets.
“Previously, because of brokers, it was difficult to sell livestock since middlemen demanded part of the proceeds, which greatly reduced earnings. But the Internet revolution has made it easy for farmers to reap more from the sale of their livestock,” said OLX Kenya Country Manager Peter Ndiang’ui, adding that two million people visit the online market’s site every month.
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