In 2015, Anthony Barasa, a resident of Lurambi, was among lucky farmers who received an In Calf Heifer from Kakamega County Government’s One Cow Initiative programme.
Nine Years later, in 2023, the cow is carrying its sixth pregnancy having calved five times with the farmer passing on the first calf, as a requirement of the programme, to another farmer.
The County Coordinator of the Programme, Joina Wabiabo said that after passing on the first calf, Barasa gifted the second calf to his first-born son which has also calved.
“The third calf was a bull which the farmer sold at Sh 50 000, and used the money to pay for his children’s school fees. The fourth calf was a heifer calf which is now almost at the age of being served and that is the farmer’s own cow. The fifth was a bull calf which is being fattened for sale for the farmer’s own use and currently this cow is in calf with a three months old pregnancy,” Obiabo noted.
“What comes out strongly is that this one cow benefits several farmers within the community, so once a farmer passes on one heifer, the rest of the offspring belongs to the farmer,” she noted.
Obiabo said the county government has issued out 1970 cows to farmers through the programme up to now with each cow having a unique identification number.
“The cow that was given to Barasa is 37CG 239.The first offspring from this cow that was given to another farmer is called 37CG 239A.That other heifer that will be passed on will be called 37CG 239B, so that line continues,” she explained.
Records show that for a period of five years, the farmer has benefited from 18 300 liters of milk from the cow which has been producing an average of 3660 liters of milk per year.
“Average milk production for this cow is 12 liters per day. In a year, the farmer is able to get 3660 liters of milk since the milking year for a dairy cow is 305 days,” she explained.
Some of the benefits that the farmer has had is that the original cow has given him a total of six offspring together with what he has passed on.
“Three farmers have benefited from the original cow; the farmer has been able to educate children at different levels of schooling, the farmer has been able to improve the nutritional status of his home through milk,” she said.
“The cow has provided employment to the family directly and through hire of other laborers, crop production has improved through use of manure and there has been increased income through sell of milk and through the bull calves,” she added.
The One Cow Initiative is a programme meant to increase milk production in Kakamega while at the same time improve the livelihoods of local people.
Kakamega County established Kakamega County Dairy Development Corporation (KDDC) through an Act of County Assembly in 2018 and mandated it to implement the one cow programme, establish Dairy Smart Farms and construct a Milk Processing Plant.
According to the CEO of the corporation, Dr Isaac Lubutsi, Farmers who benefited from the programme have passed on over 1000 heifers from the original cows since its inception.
“It takes about 3 to 4 months to prepare the farmers before a heifer is issued to them. In this case we have a training program for the selected farmers. We bring them together and train them on all aspects of dairy management and also the dairy value chain,” he noted.
One of the key conditions that the farmer must fulfil is a simple housing for the dairy animal.
“The farmer must also be able to develop at least a minimum of one acre of fodder to feed the animal and should have at least a small source of water, maybe a small water tank, or a super drum so that when the animal needs water it must be given throughout its time of feeding,” he noted.
With the increased milk production, the Corporation is constructing a Milk Processing plant in Malava where all milk produced from the county will be collected through the 12 Dairy Smart Farms and through farmers’ cooperative societies and transported to the plant for processing.
The Processing plant which is about 70 per cent complete will have a capacity to receive 50 000 liters of milk per day from Kakamega County dairy farmers who currently produce 200 000liters daily, but sell locally in villages at throwaway prices.
“This processing plant will come up with all milk value added products, the first product is usually packed raw milk that can stay a little bit longer, the one you see in super markets,” the CEO noted.
The Corporation is also aggressively improving local breeds gradually and those given to farmers through the programme in order to improve milk production and those with excellent traits that would have minimal challenges in terms of managing them.
The Chairman Board of Directors of KDDC Mr Francis Murambi Sikolia said the Dairy Smart Farms form a linkage between the county government of Kakamega through the corporation and the farmers at the farming level.
During the 2022/2023 financial year the Corporation attracted over 1000 farmers and over 2000 students from various institutions who were trained on dairy technology at the smart farms.
By Moses Wekesa
