Brookside ups bonus payment to farmers by 54pc to Sh218 million

A milk quality control officer from Brookside Dairy checks the state of raw milk delivered by farmers to the Kaptama cooling station in Mt Elgon, Bungoma county. [File, Standard]

Farmers contracted by Brookside Dairy have a reason to smile after the processor announced a Sh218 million bonus payout.

The amount will benefit dairy groups and individual farmers across the country who signed up for the quality milk programme and have been supplying raw milk to Brookside for the six months between December 1, 2023 and May 1, this year.

The half-year payout, under a reward scheme operated by the firm, represents a 53.5 per cent increase over last year's payout during a similar period.

Brookside General Manager for Milk Procurement Emmanuel Kabaki said the farmers were rewarded for meeting agreed milk supply targets in both quantity and quality.

"The beneficiary farmer groups and individual suppliers signed up for our reward scheme and were given raw milk supply targets, for both quantity and quality. We are rewarding these farmers as a recognition of their hard work over the six-month period," said Mr Kabaki in a statement yesterday.

The farmer reward scheme was pioneered by Brookside six years ago as the processor sought to appreciate the critical role raw milk suppliers play in the upstream phase of the dairy value chain.

The payout has been appreciating over the years as the processor's base of contracted farmers continues to expand.

"The reward further cements our excellent working relationship with all our 160,000 raw milk suppliers across the country. It has boosted the supply of high-quality milk, thus enabling us to tap into a larger share of high-value products," said Mr Kabaki.

Brookside has been carrying out aggressive capacity-building programmes for its farmers across key raw milk production sheds, as it seeks to further grow the volumes supplied to it. This year alone, over 3,000 dairy farmers have benefited from Brookside's extension services, which include field day training and the use of demonstration farms to showcase best practices in the dairy enterprise.

"We are also strengthening the dairy supply chain through the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies that promote sustainable milk production across the country. Sustainable agronomic practices in dairy, such as the adoption of agroforestry and use of biogas as a clean energy source, work towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," said Mr Kabaki.