Demand for heifers straining supply, pushing prices up

A high demand for heifers in neighbouring countries has strained local supply, driving up prices.

This has stifled faster growth of the dairy industry, which picked up in earnest after 2003, following the revival of New Kenya Co-operative Creameries, among other incentives.

The scarcity of heifers is worsened by failure of most farmers to register their cattle, a major requirement for export of cattle. It is estimated that out of 3.3 million head in Kenya, only 10 per cent are registered.

“After the dairy sector went through a low period, many farmers sold cattle for slaughter. They are now restocking.

In March, we had a meeting with Co-operative Bank where we pleaded with the breeders to increase production to meet demand from farmers,” said Mr Robert Irungu, the Dairy Programme national co-ordinator and principal research scientist at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari).

For grade cattle to meet export requirements, they have to be recorded in the Stand Book and dairy recording scheme of Kenya, scientists at Kari said last week.

Recording involves tracing the lineage of a cow, which gives it traceability of origin. Farmers would earn three times more for their cattle.

Due to the low recording of cattle the export market has had to rely only on 28 breeding stations in the country, which have a constrained capacity.

“The natural way of multiplying livestock has not been meeting demand and we want to fine tune it and bring more rapid methods like embryo transfer and infitro fertilisation,” said Mr Irungu.

The research body has jointly sponsored a field day with Brookside limited, which starts on Tuesday at Naivasha, to educate farmers on the benefits of recording their cattle.

“We want more farmers to participate in expanding their sources of heifers, to meet local and regional demand. Most of them do not know the need for registering their cattle, which could expand their market,” said Mr John Kariuki, the Kari centre director.