Dairy farmers earn Sh600m as firm plans to boost deliveries

By Fredrick obura

Brookside paid out over Sh600 million to farmers for their deliveries last year. Brookside General Manager, Mr John Gethi, said the company had set its eyes on increased capacity. This  would see the processor’s daily milk intake rise from the current 600,000 litres to about 2.4 million litres.

Speaking when he commissioned the Nyala Multi-Purpose Dairy Sacco Society in Maragwa, Nyandarua County, Gethi said the average daily milk production per farmer in Kenya was a bout five litres. In Europe, each farmer collected 500 litres daily.

Gethi, who was accompanied by Mr Fred Ogana, Technoserve’s country director, said farmers in Nyala earned a total of Sh600 million from milk deliveries made to Brookside last year.

This comes as the competition in the dairy sector  hots up. Milk prices remain high beyond the reach of many.  Milk on average now retails at  Sh40 , from Sh30 mid last year.

Others firms in the sector include New KCC, Buzeki Dairies, Githunguri Dairy, Sameer Agriculture& Livestock, Limuru Dairy among others.

Gethi said the firm has embarked on a programme to encourage farmers to grow their milk production volumes. This  is in anticipation of increased demand upon the completion of an upgrade of the processor’s intake capacity, expected for commissioning by year-end.

“I wish to challenge you to tighten measures that enhance increased productivity and competitiveness. These include adoption of better management practices, investment in quality animal feed and cost rationalisation throughout your value chain,” Gethi said. 

“Brookside is already prepared for increased supplies through the creation of capacity to produce dry milk for both operational and strategic stocks,” he said. “This situation is worsened by dependence on rains for milk production.

 Join venture

We are now asking our farmers to embrace feed conservation in order to assure the country of continuous milk output throughout the year,” Gethi said. Nyala Multi-Purpose Dairy Sacco Society is Brookside’s largest group supplier of milk.

 It has a daily raw milk churning capacity of 75,000 litres. It was built as a partnership venture between Brookside, Technoserve Africa and farmers in Nyandarua and Laikipia Counties . He commended the central management committee, led by chairman Samuel Ngure, for steering the society on the path of profitability.

Gethi announced Brookside would train the society’s milk handlers and transporters on quality issues, to reduce the loss burden occasioned by milk rejects.

Ogana said Technoserve would continue supporting farmers, adding that the organisation was currently funding dairy, coffee and fish sub-sectors.