Machinery

: 05 March 2018; Hits: 7859

Dairy farmers to earn over Sh4.5bn from KCC plant upgrade programme

milk hawking kenya Milk farmers delivering their milk at a collection centre. New KCC is upgrading its processing factories countrywide to speed milk processing.

New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) has commissioned a Sh1.5 billion programme to increase its plant processing capacity to 1.5m litres of milk a day from about half a million a day which will see about three million dairy farmers earn 72 per cent pay rise from Sh2.5bn in the previous years to Sh4.5m.

The upgrade comprises the migration from the High Density Polyethylene technology to Poly Ethylene Terephthalate in packing of milk products which is going to enable long-life production of milk products to suit both local and international markets.

“The upgrade process that has begun with our Eldoret factory with the commissioning of an ultra-modern UHT processing unit to increase the production of longer shelf-life products for the local and export markets,” said New KCC Managing Director Nixon Sigei.

“This is our countrywide plan that involves upgrading of the firm’s filling and packaging facilities to ensure quality products using the latest technology.”

In the upgrade plan, Eldoret and Nyahururu factories will be the first prioritized factories as most dairy afrmers come from these regions. The second in line will be Dandora and Sotik followed by Kiganjo, Kitale and Miritini.

The modernisation will also enable the cooperation produce other milk products such as yoghurt, fermented milk and creams among other produce.

“The plant will more than double its processing capacity for its fermented milk products category of Mala and yoghurt whose demand in the market has continued to grow,” he told Saturday Standard.

“The upgrade will also expand and modernise the butter and fresh milk categories with an overall improvement of production efficiency at the facility.”

Sigei hopes this will up milk production which dropped by 17.5 per cent in the first five months of 2017. The drop forced the government to allow tax-exempt milk powder imports to stabilise prices.

A report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates 215.9 million litres were sold to processors between January and May compared to 261.9 million litres in a similar period last year.

The report adds that April and May were the hardest hit months with 37.7 million and 36.9 million litres sold respectively, compared to 54.4 million litres and 49.5 million litres in a similar period last year.

KCC has been losing her customers (dairy farmers) to other buyers like milk ATMS. Currently there are 275 milk ATMS with 62 per cent located in Nairobi alone.

There are slightly over three million dairy cattle in Kenya who contribute 4.5 per cent to the coutry’s GDP and it is a source of livelihood to over 1.5m smallholder households.

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: 28 February 2018; Hits: 26554

Makueni farmer adopts bottle drip irrigation for his pawpaws

A Makueni farmer who ventured into pawpaw farming four years ago but lost half of his crops due to drought is not losing hope yet and has ventured into simple drip irrigation using bottles to avoid potential losses arising due to water deficiency.

Alex Kituku harvested just five tonnes from one acre of the crop under cultivation out of a potential expected yield of 15 tonnes after one season. However, he is now expanding the land under cultivation to two acres after leasing one acre of land in 2016 at a cost of Sh30,000 for the next five years.

The initial capital investment at Sh120,000 for his first planting season were drawn from his savings as an untrained teacher at Gatunguri secondary school in Kerugoya, a job he engaged in as from June 2014 fresh from Egerton University where he undertook a degree in Biochemistry and molecular biology. He however incurred losses of approximately Sh80,000.

“From that first trial, I knew that failure is not an option, even though the crop did not do well due to insufficient rains, I realized the need for adopting irrigation as a way of improving production,” said Kituku.

makueni kituku

On 21^st Nov 2017, Alex Kituku invested Sh150,000, cash he obtained from a sacco at his current workplace at an EPZ firm in Kitengela in purchasing papaya seeds, fertilizers and land preparation.

He bought 1000 red royale F1 Papaya seeds at a cost of Sh70,000 from an agro vet in Nyeri which he then established on a nursery bed for a period of three weeks. Before planting, the seeds were soaked in an optimizer for 24 hours to accelerate the germination percentage.

“While in the nursery, I applied pyramid fungicide, loyalty insecticide and optimizer folia fertilizers at the rate of 50g for every 20 liters, the three were mixed thoroughly in the same knapsack sprayer,” said Kituku.

After three weeks he transplanted the plants to the main seed bed near the source of water where he put 1000 plants under drip irrigation and another 1000 under furrow irrigation.

“For the drip, I used 10 liter bottles to water the plants which I achieved by piercing just single hole at the base of the bottle,” he said.

“The number of holes will depend with the water available. Secondly, cut the upper part of the bottles. Put the bottles with an open top adjacent to the seedling in an upright position with the pierced hole facing the seedling. Putting the bottle in an upright position gives it stability. With the open side being on the top makes refilling of water very easy. Bigger bottles need small holes too because pressure for the water inside is high too,”

One papaya plant uses five liters of water every week; this translates to 20 liters for each plant in one month.

Kituku purchases 5,000 liters per week at Sh2500 from county water bowsers every week.

With the irrigation under control, the farmer has no worries over the plants and expects to harvest at least 1.5 tonnes weekly as from August 2018 for a period of four consecutive years as papaya is a perennial plant can yield fruits for up to four years.

He hopes to sell the fruits in Kitengela, Nairobi Retail market and Kongowea market in Mombasa.

Alex can be reached on +254 710 819 070

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: 26 February 2018; Hits: 10799

Maasai herder adopts smart way to avert drought loses

Feedlot Boran bulls feeding from a feeding trough. Feedlotting enables cattle gain maximum weight for market in the shortest time possible. Photo courtesy.

Lolkerra Tanei, Maasai herder from Narok County is feeding his livestock on hay, wheat bran, maize chop, sunflower and molasses on a confined system also known as feedlot ting allowing the cattle gain maximum weight to be ready for the market in the shortest time possible.

Tanei who rears borans (Maasai beef cattle) on a three acre land had lost about twenty of his cattle worth Sh1.1m to 2013 drought forcing him to change tact.

“I feed my cattle on carbohydrate, sufficient proteins and optimum mineral salts. This makes them grow faster and gain weight and within a short time I sell them off to avoid drought effects,” said Tanei.

Kenyan livestock sector is badly hit by drought yearly with 72 per cent of total damages and losses recorded between the year 2013 and 2017 according to the Second Medium Term Plan 2013 – 2017 on Drought Risk Management and Ending Drought Emergencies by the government of Kenya.

Confining beef cattle has seen the Kilgoris farmer new method since then. This allow him to destocks by selling his cows in large numbers in December and early January each year before the onset of dry season in Kenya which ends mid-March.

During this time he says one boran weigh 400kg (life weight) goes at Sh56,000 and with 50 cattle he sells yearly, he earns over Sh2.8m which he uses part to restock at the end of a dry season.

He can earn up to Sh3m if he sells with Kenya Livestock Marketing Council (KLMC), an organization of livestock producers and traders in arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya which helps farmers access both local and international markets.

“We encourage farmers as individuals or in groups to work with us for better markets. We are connected with exporters and we export beef cattle to Middle East, Europe, and Mauritius among other places,” said KLMC CEO, Abdikadir Mohamed.

“Farmers must be able to produce 20 cattles weighing seven tonnes in total which can fill a lorry, and that is why we advise farmers who cannot meet the requirement to work in groups.”

Tanei who has 15 borans currently that he can take care of, due to the present dry condition in the country leading to inadequate pasture buys young borans from other farmers at Sh18,000-27,000 weighing between 50kg and 200kg each from mid-March to end of April every year.

Once he feeds them to a maximum weight in a duration of 60 to 120 days he would begin looking for markets to regulate his stock to match his feeding system.

According to Peter Muturu, Nairobi County livestock officer, land diminishing everyday due to population increase and need for settlement and industrialization hence there is no space to rear many animals except if a farmer practices feedlotting.

“Due to increase in nyama choma business as Kenyans love roasted meat, demand for red meat is always high and farmers may want to keep many cattle for beef. Feedlotting is therefore a good practice as farmers will be targeting a given weight then sell some animals to avoid overstocking,” said Muturu.

“Feedlotting can be established on a small area, and there is no need for arable land. All a farmer requires is a gently sloping site with a good, secure water supply.”

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