How group made it from zero to top agriprenuers

Tired of being regarded as a burden to society, a group of persons living with disabilities (PWDs) in Navakholo sub-county decided to venture into dairy farming.

In 2007, the locals who felt left out, under the leadership of Berthez Wechuli, formed Buchangu Disabled Group comprising the deaf, visually impaired, those with sickle cell anaemia, epilepsy and mental illness.

“Because of our various limitations, we had resigned to a life of begging for handouts. But with time, people got tired of us and were avoiding us. That is what pushed us to think beyond our disability. We were tired of being called beggars,” Wechuli points out.

Using his networking skills, he mobilised persons who fall under the special category and sold to them the idea. Most of those Wechuli approached bought into it and they each gave what they had to kick start the project. Thanks to the project’s success, the membership which started at 50 has doubled.

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Unique model

“Before rollout, we wrote a proposal to the National Council for Persons with Disabilities who sponsored us to a tune of Sh150,000 in addition to Sh30,000 which was members’ savings. Our objective was to establish a sustainable income generating project to restore our dignity and remove from us the tag of beggars,” says Wechuli, the group chairman.

As a strategy, half of them chose the dairy goat value chain while the others went for dairy cows.

To set the ball rolling, the group based in Buchangu location in Kakamega, approached agricultural extension officers to help them source for five heifers from Nandi County at a cost of Sh20,000 each. They also bought Freshian breed and six dairy goats (Alpine breed) that were already in calf from Elgeyo Marakwet County at Sh10,000 each.

Mr Wechuli says as a group, they decided that once a cow calved, the calf is given to a member, to ensure everyone gets an animal by the time the cycle is complete.

The same model was replicated with the goats.

“Currently, we have 35 dairy cows that give us over 750 litres of milk every day and we sell a litre at Sh30. Each cow gives between 20 to 25 litres a day. Every farmer ‘donates’ Sh90 or three litres of milk every day for running operations of the group,” said Wechuli.

In addition, after a beneficiary gives out two calves to utmost to two other PWDs, the cow officially becomes his or hers and any other calves remain with his family. The way the project ensures the most vulnerable members of the group also benefit.

Take the case of Spetah Mukhonge, 70, was given a dairy cow in 2018 when it was already in calf. She takes care of the cow on behalf of her daughter who is a member but is battling mental illness.

“In the morning, the cow gives me 13 litres of milk and in the evening 11 litres. We have a contracted supplier who buys the milk at Sh30 per litre. In a month, I make at least Sh21,600 as profit which I use to buy medication for my daughter and pay fees for my grandchildren,” explains Mukhonge.

Rael Kitere, 40, Mukhonge’s daughter-in-law, says the cow is a blessing to the family because besides giving them milk, they use the cow’s manure to make a biogas digester which they use for cooking. “We used to refill our 6kg gas cookers at Sh1,000 every month and spent an extra Sh300 on transport but since receiving the cow in 2018, and with the  biogas digester we get cooking energy for 10 houses within the homestead. We no longer use firewood,” says Ms Kitere.

Janet Barasa, who received a dairy goat in January 2019, has already given out two kids to the next PWDs.

Ms Barasa, the group’s organising secretary says each goat gives her three litres of milk daily which she sells at Sh60 per litre.

“I chose the goat project because it is low maintenance and the rewards are high. The dairy goats feed on shrubs and produce milk that is of high nutritive value compared to cow milk. They can be reared on a small parcel of land and in a year, the females give birth twice to four kids,” says Ms Barasa.

Her sentiments are echoed by Linet Makoha, who says the gestation period of a dairy goat is five months and once it delivers; a farmer can get between three - five litres of milk daily for eight months depending on his feeding regime. Glenise Nabwire, uses manure from the dairy goats on her tissue culture banana farm.

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