Members of a dairy cooperative in Meru County receive aluminum milk cans from Avsi Foundation, an NGO implementing a dairy project. [Phares Mutembei, Standard]

Dairy farmers across the country are feeling the heat thanks to high production costs and many are abandoning the venture as a coping mechanism.

Last week, it was reported that the farmer from Nakuru who sold a bull to President Kenyatta, is ditching the business for pigs because of the high cost of feeds.

But interestingly, as other dairy farmers are complaining, dairy farmers in Meru County, are a happy lot. The Smart Harvest spoke to a number of them on the coping mechanisms and how they maintain successful dairy units.

Timothy Itiri, keeps almost 50 Friesian dairy cows at his farm in Abothoguchi West in Meru County. Like countless other farmers in Meru, Itiri joined a cooperative but his secret to success has been growing and storing sufficient feeds for his flock. Itiri has put in place a system that ensures he has enough fodder (above his cow’s consumption needs), to cut costs of buying.

In his silage pits, he currently has maize silage of 90,000 kilos, enough to feed his cows until December 2022.

“For next season (from October), I am planting maize to feed my cows from January 2023. That is prior planning,” he says.

“In case of dry spell I have enough food for my cows in reserves. The secret was leasing land on lower zones for planting maize. This prior planning for fodder is key for any successful dairy farmer. We also plant protein fodder like sweet potato vines, bracharia, desmodium, and others,” says Itiri now a seasoned expert in the art of making silage.



He leases an acre at Sh6, 000 per year.

A member of Mbwinjeru Dairy Cooperative, he sells to different processors.

“I sell to different processors including Brookside and Lisha Dairy. This month they paid at Sh42 per litre.”

Just like Itiri, Justin Kaburu decided to grow his own feeds for his over 20 cows.

Kaburu’s farm, located at Keeria on the border of Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties, has different plants, to provide his herd with good volumes of protein.



Good volumes of protein

In addition to growing feeds, Kaburu practises zero-grazing to avoid his cows picking up diseases.

“With zero-grazing and good hygiene I do not have to worry about mastitis and other infections,” he Kaburu.

Additionally, Kaburu has one and a half acres under calliandra, and the same acreage is occupied by brachiaria Mulato, a pasture rich in proteins.

Another seven acres is occupied by maize, providing plenty of food for the cows.

“I found commercial feeds dealers to be very expensive. I would not be getting any profit if I did not produce my own feeds,” Kaburu says.

His dairy union buys a litre of milk at Sh42, and Kaburu uses Sh2 to pay the porter.

“Dairy farming is profitable, but it would not be if I were buying feeds which retail at Sh2,500 per 70kg bag. I buy a little dairy meal though.”

Strength in numbers

Farmers around Kaburu’s home formed the Neighbours Dairy Cooperative, and have found strength in numbers.

They have a cooler with a capacity to store more than 12, 000 litres of milk.

Value addition

Just like countless other dairy farmers, Sam Maitethia from Gitimbine in North Imenti started a hotel, through which he successfully does value addition. Maitethia supplies up to 200 litres daily to the dairy union, which pays him Sh43 per litre.

He uses 50 litres at his hotel to make tea.

“I sell a small cup of rich tea at Sh50. From that, I make good profit,” he says.

Scale down

While others are boosting their feed sources, some like Catherine Kimathi who were weighed down by the prohibitive cost of production decided to downsize their herds.

Kimathi, from Kithoka to reduce the cost of production and manage her herd better, sold 18 cows and now is left with only five.

“I had to reduce the number to have fewer mouths to feed. Feeds are very expensive, I wish the national government can step in and address the challenge,” she says.

“I have workers to pay and other running costs. The Sh40 I get from each litre leaves me with nothing. Even after reducing the cows, I had to try and reduce what I was spending on feeds, and now I make my own silage. I wish the dairy unions bought a litre at a minimum of Sh50,” she observes.

Power of cooperatives

Farmers at Chaaria had for a long time suffered poor prices yet their herds were yielding big amounts of milk. They sold the milk at Chaaria mart at throwaway prices.

Sometimes hotel owners turned them away because they had enough milk.

Unable to cope, they came together and formed the Nkandone Dairy Farmers Society which boasts about 350 members who deliver to Meru Dairy Union, too. Jotham Kirimi, a manager at the cooperative, said he was sipping tea at a hotel when the idea of forming the group occurred to him.

“A man walked into the hotel with a five-litre can of milk intending to sell to the hotel owner. But to the man’s disappointment, the hotel owner was not in a position to buy any more milk, because he had enough,” he recalls.

Watching the man walk out of the hotel disappointed, broke his heart.

“It hit me that there were many other farmers at Nkandone who had nowhere to take their milk. That is when the idea of forming a co-operative society came to mind,” recalls Kimathi. He spoke to a few like-minded contacts and they decided to roll out the idea.

Transport costs

They took advantage of the availability of many credit societies and took a loan to buy a vehicle because transport costs ate into profit margins. Previously they had hired a vehicle to take the yield to the processor in Meru town’s industrial area.

“The cost of hiring the vehicle was Sh1,500 per day yet the transport was not reliable so paying Sh45,000 monthly was untenable, eating into profits of hard-working farmers,” says Douglas Mutugi, the society’s chairman.