Taita dairy earnings rise to Sh51 million

Dairy farmers at the Coast are looking at better prospects after processor Brookside announced that earnings for farmers in the region increased by 10 per cent last year compared to 2013 earnings.

Taita Taveta county, one of Brookside’s key raw milk collection sheds, sold raw milk worth Sh51 million to processor last year, indicating improving fortunes for the more than 10,000 smallholders in the area.

Brookside’s director of milk procurement, John Gethi attributed the increase in earnings to adoption of dairy as an enterprise. Speaking at Ngerenyi in Wundanyi sub-county, Gethi said many farmers in the Coast region had moved into dairy due to assured income from milk sales to formal market players.

Apart from Taita Taveta county, Brookside also partners with dairy farmers in Kilifi and Lamu, where it has set up cooling stations where farmers deliver their raw milk. Brookside has some 160,000 contracted dairy farmers countrywide.