• The programme will include field training during demonstration farm tours and phone conversations.
• Karanja said farmers have been advised to plant high-value fodder crops such as bracharia and desmodium.
Image: AGATHA NGOTHO
The national government is training dairy farmers in Kiambu to help them increase milk production.
The programme includes field training during demonstration farm tours and phone conversations.
Kiambu subcounty livestock production officer Virginia Karanja on Tuesday said farmers have been advised to plant high-value fodder crops such as bracharia and desmodium.
She said when these crops are mixed with napier grass, they help raise milk production.
Karanja said 80 per cent of Kiambu residents are dairy farmers, with most homesteads raising two to three cows.
“Most of them practice zero grazing due to small pieces of land, but we are urging them to learn new techniques of improving their dairy production,” she said.
Karanja said most of them rear Friesian and Ayrshire breeds for milk and manure.
Kiambu is one of the highest milk producers in the country, with an annual production of 430 million litres.
The mean production per cow per day in the country stands at 10.1 litres and Kiambu has been registering a production of 12.6 litres per cow.
According to Karanja, a litre of milk in Kiambu subcounty goes for between Sh47 and Sh50.
“Selling the milk in its raw form normally does not fetch good money and that is the reason we encourage farmers to sell to cooperatives that value-add the milk by processing it into yoghurt, pasteurised milk and other dairy products,” she said.
Karanja said the government, through the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme, conducted research and found gaps that made the farmers not get good profit from their cattle.
She said after the findings they introduced new technologies and trained extension officers, who go to the ground and help the farmers.
Farmer Esther Njeri said, “Since I started dairy farming, I’ve been keeping Friesian cows as they have more milk compared to the other breeds. I started way back in 2006 and I can say dairy farming pays. I sell my milk and sell calves when need be.”
She said although the training is good, they need more extension officers to address the problems they encounter.
"Sometimes we go for long without extension officers to assist us and we second-guess in tending to our livestock,” Njeri said.
She said Kiambu farmers sell their milk to Ndumberi Dairy Farmers Cooperative, some hawk, while others take their produce to Nairobi.
George Ngugi, a dairy farmer from Ndumberi, said the biggest challenge they grapple with is the high cost of artificial insemination services.
“We pay a lot for the services which range from Sh1,500 to Sh2,000. The cost of commercial feed is also high and getting grass is a challenge because of the small spaces on our land," he said.
Ngugi urged the government to intervene and help reduce the cost of AI services and animal feed.
Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organisation’s Arid and Rangeland Research Institute director Dr Simon Kuria said they have been training farmers and taking them through a whole production cycle of fodder crops.
He said they train them on preparation, sowing, weeding management, harvesting, conservation of feed material, feeding the animal and how to develop business around the fodder production.
“Feed is an important part of cattle health and has a substantial impact on yield. Poor access to concentrate feed and fodder as well as poor feeding regimen means that most cattle are not reaching their highest productivity potential,” he said during an interview.
Kuria said the high-yield and fast-growing grass variety is being viewed as an alternative to providing fodder for livestock and revenue for farmers.