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: 16 January 2019; Hits: 9592

Good news to Kenyan consumers as egg prices remain low due to glut in local markets

fertilised eggs A crate of eggs is now retailing at Sh300 low from Sh330 for the last one month. The drop has been caused by the glut in the local markets as production by farmers is currently high.

Consumers in the country will continue to enjoy egg delicacies thanks to the decline in the poultry product prices since last month due to glut in the domestic markets as local production is up due to the warm-dry weather.

The price of a tray has been retailing for as low as Sh260 in some open air markets while major retailers sell the same measure at Sh300 from Sh330. Some traders have blamed this on the importation of eggs from other countries something that a poultry lobby group has refuted.

However, according to the Kenya Poultry Farmers Association, the price change has resulted from a glut as farmers in the country are producing more at the moment, which is normally the trend in January as chicken lay more eggs when the weather is warm-dry.

“It will be incorrect to say that the flooding of eggs in our markets is caused by imports from Uganda and South Africa as claimed by some dealers in the sector without proof,” said Wairimu Kariuki, the association chairperson.

According to traders, a tray of egg from Uganda is retailing at Sh240 making it difficult for them to compete. Eggs from the neighbour country are arguably cheaper due to lower cost of cereals and less tax.

However, farmers who have supply tenders with major retailers, supermarkets and other main food chains in the up markets still sell a tray at Sh300 as the shops there are still selling an egg as at high as Sh12.

Henry Njuguna, poultry farmer in Naivasha has even turned to social media to sell his eggs says that his production has increased over the last month due to the warm dry weather experienced in the country at the moment and which favours layers.

“I now collect between 15-18 eggs from 12-15 eggs on a daily during cold seasons. I am able to meet my tender supply demands and still remain with surplus to find an optional market for,” said Njuguna.

He keeps more than 1600 layers in a 50 by 100 piece of land. 1200 are growers of 14 weeks old and 600 layers which are over 20 weeks old.

He supplies his eggs to some of the big hotels in Naivasha on a weekly basis.

Kariuki though said farmers can still break even with the price of Sh300 a tray given the cost of production currently stands at Sh262.

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: 16 January 2019; Hits: 5626

Organization helps tea farmers market their produce

Tea farmers can double their income by joining the East African Tea Trade Association, a voluntary organization that was started in 1956 to facilitate a world-class trading platform for African tea.

Currently farmers sell their produce to different factories which offer different prices per kilo depending on the region. Prices of tea range from Sh20 to Sh50 per kilo and this works to the disadvantage of small scale farmers.

EATTA helps members’ market tea weekly, on Mondays and Tuesdays. There is currently a main grades auction held on Tuesdays and secondary grades auction held on Mondays from 9.00 am. The assortment of quality and with time increased quantities offered have made Mombasa the second largest black tea auction center in the world after Colombo in Sri-Lanka.

“Our principal mandate is to run the weekly Mombasa Tea Auction Centre, currently the largest tea auction center in the world. There are currently 210 EATTA members comprising 85 producers, 81 buyers, 11 brokers, 19 warehouses, 10 packers and four associate members. The Association is self-sustaining and draws its income through annual subscriptions paid by the membership,” said Edward Mudibo, the Managing Director of the company.

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TEA PICKING

It has members drawn from 10 countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique) all actively engaged in growing, buying, broking and warehousing of tea.

To be a member on has to apply. Applicants for membership must be introduced to the company by a member (proposer) and the introduction by the proposer must be seconded by another member of the company (seconder) both of whom must have been active member(s) for a minimum period of three years prior to the application for membership.

Applicants also attach a copy of KRA pin, value added tax registration and the Tea Directorate’s registration certificate before paying an entrance fee of Sh40,000 for producer membership.

EATTA has increased quantities of tea sold by small scale farmers by over 300 per cent in the last 20 years.

Tea earnings in Kenya rose by eight per cent to Sh129bn in 2017 up from Sh120bn the previous year according to data from the Tea Directorate of Kenya.

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: 15 January 2019; Hits: 8114

Nyeri processor increases milk intake prices by seven shillings a liter

Dairy farmers in Nyeri are set increase their income after Mukurweini Dairy Ltd announced the increase in price of one liter of milk from Sh27 to Sh35.

“Our biggest success is the value addition, this is because have been able to turn around and improved the rate of payment to our farmers from Sh27 per liter before processing to Sh35 per liter currently,” said Peter Kamau, the Chief Executive Officer of the company.

The company was started in 1990 as a self-help group with the main objective of collecting members’ milk and marketing it to the milk processors. It was registered in 2005 as a limited company after growing in status and now processes raw milk into different dairy products and brands such as the Royal Fresh packed milk, Royal Fresh yoghurt, Royal Fresh Lala, Royal Fresh long life milk.

The Royal milk is packed in 500ml, 200ml, five liters and processed bulk.

The company is currently valued at Sh269.7m as of at 30^th June 2018 with 212 permanent employees and 100 casual workers.

Milk processor launches new factory in Sotik to serve Bomet, Kisii, Kericho and Narok farmers

Kakamega farmer earns over Sh90,000 a year from goat milk

mukurweini wakulima dairy

Workers at Mukurweini Wakumima Dairy Ltd. Courtesy

To improve farmers’ income, the company provides artificial insemination and clinical services to farmers where shareholders are given the option to pay for the services in cash or on credit against their milk production.

It also provides dairy, poultry and pig feeds for sale through its outlets spread over its milk catchment areas in Nyeri. These feeds are equally sold on cash or credit against members’ milk productions.

Wakulima Sacco Limited is used as conduit for paying farmers produce, provision of basic banking services on savings and lending. The critical role of the institution is to provide credit on dairy farming activities such as the purchase of grade dairy cattle, construction of cattle sheds, purchase of chaff-cutter machines, purchase of high value semen and other related business

The company maintains a laboratory which is used to analyse the milk quality and also for clinical disease analysis.

“Our lowest moment was in 2011 when the Dairy opted to spill the milk and ration collection from the farmers due to lack of market. As a result the company made a huge loss for both money and the big number of farmers sold their cows,” said Kamau.

“In order to avoid the recurrence of the same, we started the process of acquiring the processing machines in order to do the value addition and look for the market rather than relying on the other processors,”

The company has a plan of processing ghee, butter and cheese by the end of the year 2019 and is thus projecting a 20 per cent growth in sales this year boosted by introduction of ultra-heated milk in the market.

The quantity of milk delivered to dairy processors recorded a significant drop of 17.4 per cent from 648.2m litres in 2016 to 535.7m litres in 2017 according to the 2018 Economic Survey Report.

Similarly, the quantity of processed milk and cream from processing plants decreased by 8.5 per cent and that of butter and ghee declined by 22 per cent. Production of cheese however, increased from 311.2 tonnes in 2016 to 338.3 tonnes in 2017.

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