A DAIRY FARM

by HG Muriuki, Dairy Consultant

Animal Production And Health Division
LESSONS IN DAIRY DEVELOPMENT CASE STUDIES
He chose to start dairy farming despite the fact that he was
starting at the time the dairy industry was undergoing changes
that were adversely affecting milk marketing in the country. This
was the time the government liberalized most of the services
and institutions. The private sector that was expected to ll in
the gap left by government withdrawal was not ready to offer an
alternative. He repaid his loan at 19% interest over 9 months.
The farm
He now has nine mature cows, six of them in milk, and a female
calf (4 month old). He is milking 170 kg of milk per day and selling
about 150 kg of this on average. He is one of the most progressive
dairy farmers and among the top three in Kasarani division of
Nairobi, with an average daily production per cow of 30 kg (range
from 27 kg to 45 kg per cow per day). He sells most of the milk
at the farm and only 20 kg is sold to a hotel in Nairobi city, about
30 km from his premises. At the farm, he sells a KSh.25 per kg
while at the hotel he sell at KSh. 40 but gets only KSh.36 per kg
since it costs him KSh.4/litre for transportation to the hotel.
According to his calculations, it costs Mr. Miriti KSh.10-12
(variable costs) to produce a kg of milk (he spend KSh.1,700 per
day to produce 150 to 170 kg of milk a day). His rough estimation
of monthly revenue and income from milk alone is he makes
about KSh.120,000 per month of which his prot is KSh.60,000.
He also sells manure which fetches about KSh.6,000 a month.
Mr. Miritis interest in dairy started in 1991 after he brought
to Nairobi a cross-bred dairy animal from his ancestral home
in Meru and realized that he was generating as much monthly
revenue from the sale of milk, from this one cross-bred animal,
as his net salary with KPL&C. As he puts it he started wondering
Kasarani Division, Nairobi.
Mr. Miriti retired from
the Kenya Power and
Lighting Company (KPL&C)
so as to enter into dairy
farming. He secured a
loan of KSh.300,000 from
the Co-operative Bank
with favourable conditions
and bought three dairy
animals...
how much he would get from a dairy herd of 10 milking
cows if he were to have them. This speculation of the
revenue from 10 milk cows was the basis of his resolve
to take the risk and leave a well paying job to enter into
dairy farming. He believed then that dairy farming would
be a good employer and would offer him and his family of
6, safety and security. He has so far not regretted the
decision he made.
Inputs and benets
Mr. Miriti co-manages the dairy enterprise with his son,
Victor Nyaga. He has one permanent employee and gets
occasional assistance from his brother. Together with his
son and the permanent employee they provide all the labor
required for milk production and selling. He assumes that
the KSh.60,000 a month prot is their salary for him and
his son. The employee is paid KSh.3,000 a month plus food
and accommodation. Alternative employment is not easily
available in the area and where available, the monthly
salary would be about KSh.2,500 3,000 a month without
food and accommodation as provided by Mr. Miriti.
Mr. Miritis dairy enterprise also benets ve other
people, excluding the hotel where he sells 20 kg of milk,
who retail milk (about 100 kg of milk a day for the ve)
from his dairy. He also gives about 1.5 kg of milk away
free to two poor neighbours (an old lady and a paralysed
man).
The value of learning
Mr. Miriti values learning and puts the acquired knowledge
into practice. He attends workshops, seminars and other
forums to improve his knowledge and he is also the most
visited dairy farmer in the area. He has been to two work
shops in the month of October and November (2006). He
serves as a successful model of smallholder dairy farmer
and is used by the Extension agents as a success story to
motivate the upcoming smallholder dairy farmers in the
area. He practices zero-grazing and depends on forages
brought in and commercial concentrate feeds because he
has no space in his 40 x 80 ft plot which not only has the
zero grazing unit but also his family homestead. Most of
the forage is obtained from land he owns elsewhere and
some other rented pieces of land.
Despite his success, he believes his peri-urban dairy
farming is faced with a lot of challenges which include:
the risk of employing untrustworthy and unreliable
dairy labourers; limitation and high cost of land; and
the city of Nairobi by-laws which are not supportive of
urban agriculture although the peri-urban agriculture is
widespread and protable within the citys environs.
Dairying as compared with other enterprises
Mr. Miriti believes dairy production is better than other
agricultural activities. He has in the past kept poultry
(commercial layers and broilers) and commercial pigs
and would still keep them when conditions allow just for
diversication of his farming business but he believes they
are not competitive with dairy farming. Dairy enterprise
provide the family with income security, offers continuous
income and he can use dairy by-products such as manure
to generate extra income or use on the farm to grow forage
and other crops, provides employment for the family
members and in Nairobi where theft is high, putting ones
cash in cows distracts common thieves who usually have
no time and neither do they have any idea about the value
and income generated from dairy. According Victor, Miritis
son, when thieves see cattle dung, they think that it is a
homestead of poor and useless people. Dairy farming in
peri-urban Nairobi is therefore less risky than having a
shop/kiosk or running a mini-bus matatu.
Mr. Miritis future in dairy
The immediate future plan is to increase the herd size to
10 milking cows (15 total mature cows) or more so as get
at least 300 kg of milk a day. When he achieves this, he
will then diversify his dairy business into value-added milk
products such as mala (fermented milk) and yoghurt.
Continuous learning has already helped him to improve
his dairy enterprise and he and his son will continue to
look for and take any opportunity for learning provided by
various organizations. He believes he owes his current
success to knowledge obtained through interactions with
the extension ofcers, including researchers and NGOs,
and from the many dairy forums he has attended.