Milk processor records increased intake on better prices

Brookside milk packets

Milk supply to processor Brookside Dairy has increased by nearly 30 per cent in the past week following an upward adjustment of producer prices, and coming on the back of current heavy rains being experienced in key production regions across the country.

Brookside announced a 42 per cent increase in farm-gate prices last week, with the firm now paying up to Sh37 for a kilo of raw milk. The move by the Ruiru-based firm has gone against industry trend as many farmers expected a drop in raw milk prices with the current upshot in production.

“Our price adjustment is an incentive to our farmers to increase production through investment in climate-smart practices such as establishment of fodder plots on their farms with the current rains,” John Gethi, Brookside’s milk procurement director, said on the sidelines of a tree planting initiative for dairy farmers in Uasin Gishu.

“We are envisaging a situation where the country will have optimum supplies of milk across all seasons due to abundance of conserved animal feed,” he added.

The company is promoting the planting of fodder trees by its 160,000 contracted farmers, and has donated seedlings in a new approach es a greater involvement in upstream activities in the milk supply chain.

“Fodder trees are easy to grow, require little land, labour or capital, have numerous by-products and often supply animal feed within a year after planting,” Mr Gethi told farmers.