Dairy farmers in Nyandarua, Nakuru, Laikipia and parts of Nyeri Counties have been encouraged to increase their milk yields by improving the breeds of cows that they rear on their farms.
This comes after a government funding of Shs 166 million to the Nyahururu New KCC milk processing plant towards a facelift of the dairy that processes 120, 000 litres of milk daily from neighbouring counties.
Laikipia County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said that the facelift on the plant ensures that there is greater capacity for milk collection, processing and distribution during a County Development Implementation and Coordination (CDICC) committee visit to government projects in Nyahururu Sub-county.
“We would like to encourage dairy farmers to ensure that they are taking advantage of the extension services the Cooperative Creamery offers in training in rearing high yielding animals through artificial insemination and proper feeding practices.
It would be beneficial for them to raise their animals’ milk production from 8 litres to 15 litres per cow daily so that they have more to sell and make a decent living from their farms. This will also help our country in moving towards food security in the future,” Kanyiri said.
President Uhuru, in his State of the Nation address in January 2020, directed the National Treasury to release Shs 500 million to Nyahururu and Nyeri milk plants to purchase excess milk from farmers for powder milk production.
The management of the plant also briefed the CDICC committee on the progress of the upgrade that 15,000 litres of milk are being hourly in the facility, and helped them to expand their in-house storage facilities for their processed products.
The state-owned dairy plant that now has a storage capacity of 3 million litres of milk specializes in the production of long life milk that has a shelf life of 6 months without refrigeration.
By Rahab Naimutie
