New project to boost dairy farmers’ yields
Swedish ambassador, Johan Borgstam and Heifer International-Kenya country director, George Odhiambo sign the partnership agreement to support dairy farming in the country as other officials look on. PHOTO | BRIAN OKINDA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- KMDP will be implemented at the county level and is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency.
- New KCC offering ready market for produce.
- Tetra Laval committed to providing technical assistance to the farmers.
- Programme will better the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Up to 30,000 smallholder dairy farmers are set to benefit from expertise, training and extension services offered by Heifer International (HPI) in partnership with New KCC, Tetra Laval and the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Sh281 million programme named Kenya Market-Led Dairy Supply Chain Project (KMDP) will be implemented at the county levels and is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
In the deal signed this week, dairy farmers will be trained on new farming practices by extension officials from the four organisations and Tetra Laval will provide storage, preservation and milk quality enhancement components, with New KCC offering ready market for produce.
HPI country director George Odhiambo said the three-and-a-half-year programme will help dairy farmers boost their livelihoods by creating more income and offering employment in the value chain.
“We aim to reach up to 330,000 smallholder dairy farmer in 10 years and uplift their livelihoods,” said Odhiambo.
He added that the programme will also focus on increasing milk collection volumes at the aggregation centres to at least 125,000 litres per day, improve the quality of the milk and also encourage participation of youth and women.
KMDP will officially be rolled out on September 1 in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. It will also run in Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia and Tharaka Nithi counties.
Tetra Laval’s regional director Rafael Fabrega said his organisation was committed to providing technical assistance to the farmers.
Mahendra Lohani, HPI’s vice-president for Africa and Asia, said the programme will better the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
New KCC’s chief milk procurement and extension services manager Dominic Menjo said the organisation collects about 350,000 litres of milk daily countrywide and the plan is to increase to 850,000 litres daily.
