Dairy farmers’ cooperative societies in Trans Nzoia and Bungoma have
joined hands to form a union geared towards boosting their returns
through increased production and access to better markets.
The Nzoia Dairy Farmers Co-operative Union which was launched in Kitale is an umbrella of 15 societies which have laid focus on increasing their economic base to the advantage of individual farmers. “Trans Nzoia and its environs didn’t have a cooperative union in the past. The formation of this umbrella body will enable us to boost our returns with an increased volume of production,” said the union’s chairman Robert Makhanu.
Mr. Makhanu said individual cooperative societies have had it rough in
penetrating the highly competitive market which has seen giant
processing firms dominate owing to capability to add value to the
produce. “Our end goal is to acquire the right infrastructure to have the
capability to add value to our bulk production. In the meantime, we
will be supplying our yield to the Brookside dairy Ltd,” he said.
Area Deputy Governor Dr. Stanley Tarus who graced the occasion
challenged the farmers to look beyond milk production by incorporating
other services that are associated with Dairy farming. “Production of heifers is also another avenue which the union should venture in to capitalize in on the ready market from our neighbouring Counties. Also take advantage of the membership base to form a savings and credit society,” said Dr. Tarus.
Livestock and Fisheries chief officer Shadrack Kimutai said enhanced
dairy farming will go a long way in boosting alternative forms of
Agriculture in the region which has predominantly been relying on
maize production.
The county government recently employed five co-operative officers and
five audit officers for our sub counties to assist in capacity
building and assisting cooperatives to be compliant with regulations.