Dairy farmers supplying milk to processor Brookside Dairy received a major boost this week after the firm announced a cash bonus payout of over Sh 142 million.
The payout, under a reward scheme operated by the processor, will benefit dairy groups and individual farmers across the country who signed up for the programme and have been supplying raw milk to Brookside in the six-month period between 1st December 2022 to 31st May, this year.
Brookside’s General Manager for milk procurement, Mr. Emmanuel Kabaki said the farmers were rewarded for meeting agreed milk supply targets, in both quantity and quality.
In a statement to newsrooms, Kabaki said the reward scheme is Brookside’s appreciation to farmers for the critical role the milk suppliers play in the upstream phase of the dairy value chain.
According to the official, the volumes and quality of raw milk supplied to Brookside has continually grown over the time, with this year’s intakes rising by 27 per cent over volumes supplied at a similar time last year, on better dairy practices by farmers.
Mr. Kabaki attributed the growth in milk volumes to an aggressive farmer empowerment programme by the processor.
This year alone, over 6,000 dairy farmers have benefited from Brookside’s extension services, which include field day trainings and the use of demonstration farms to showcase best practice in the dairy enterprise.
The firm has also been working to improve corporate governance ethos in its milk supply groups, by training dairy co-operative officials on best management practices.