Dairy farmers in Kiambu County have benefited from subsidised Artificial Insemination (AI) services that seek to upgrade breeds of dairy cattle and provide better earnings for farmers in the region.
The AI services being offered by the country’s Department of Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation are being distributed to farmers across all sub-counties.
The County Executive Committee for Agriculture, Wilfred Mwenda, said the initiative aims at giving dairy farmers a new improved breed that will increase milk production from the current seven litres to around 12 litres per cow per day, enabling farmers to earn more money from the sale of milk.
“We are calling upon all of the county’s cattle farmers to visit our sub-county offices in their areas and take advantage of our certified semen and liquid nitrogen from the Kenya Animal Genetic Resource Centre,” Mwenda said.
Initially, farmers would pay between Sh1000 to Sh2000 for each cow served, but the initiative has seen this drop to Sh500 per animal.
He added that through the initiative, the Department’s sub-county offices have been provided with semen, nitrogen tanks, and technical expertise to offer AI services to dairy farmers.
“The ultimate goal of this programme is to ensure that farmers increase their milk production and get more value from it so that they can uplift their living standards,” he said.
The AI services support project is a partnership between the County Government and the Kenya Animal Genetic Resource Centre (KAGRIC).
“The initiative has significantly reduced the cost of AI services, while at the same time improving the quality of the breeds the farmers get; this will translate into increased milk production when the calves mature to start milk production,” Mwenda noted.
Farmers whose cows were served last year when the initiative was launched have already calved and are excitedly looking forward to high milk production in the coming years.
One of the beneficiary farmers, Grace Wanjiku from Githunguri Sub County, whose cows have calved, said she has increased her herd from two to five cows’ courtesy of the support from the county government.
“When I started, I just had two cows, but now I have five cows. So far, four of my cows have been served with the improved breed semen, and I am expecting more calves before the year ends, and slowly I am expanding by adding my stock,” said Wanjiku.
Consequently, in a report done by the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP), Kiambu County is one of the highest milk producers in the country, with 430 million litres annually.
Meanwhile, the national production per cow every day stands at 10.1 litres, while Kiambu has been registering a production of 12.6 litres per cow.
By Grace Naishoo
