NYALA DAIRY MILK DELIVERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

JESSE MIGWI KARIUKI

Project documentation submitted to the department of Information Technology in the

school of Computer Science and Information Technology in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of degree of BSc. In Business Information Technology at
Dedan Kimathi University of Technology

FEBRUARY, 2021
 DECLARATION
I declare that this is my original work and has not been presented in any University for a
degree or for any consideration of any certification.

Student: Jesse Migwi Kariuki Sign…… …………………

Date 16th FEB 2021

This proposal document has been submitted with my approval as the university supervisor

Dr. Kennedy Malanga (PhD) Sign………………………………………

Date…………………………………………….

Department of Information Technology

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My heartfelt gratitude goes to my supervisor Dr Kennedy Malanga for his professional
guidance which ensured the successful completion of this proposal.

iii
 DEDICATION
I dedicate this project to Kenya dairy cooperatives who procure milk from the farmers
because they play a big role in raising the economy of Kenya.

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 ABSTRACT
Small scale dairy farmers forms approximate of 90% of the milk producers in Kenya.
Majority of them live in rural areas where infrastructure is poor with limited connection. As
result, dairy cooperatives who serve these farmers face many inefficiencies in their bid to
procure milk from every farmer including high cost of operations and lack of transparency
due to use of manual keeping of records. Manual bookkeeping practices is slow and prone to
human error, hence there is need to come up with a software that will eliminate usage of
manual recording.

The purpose of my project is to come up with a digital software system in operations that will
digitize traditional analog processes, it will affectively simplify the dairy administrative
workload in milk procurement by capturing data at the farm gate. The data will then be sent
into a remote database so that the management can access it. The objective of this case study
is to come up with the milk management system that will automate the process of procuring
milk from farmers and keeping records for Nyala Multipurpose dairy Co-operative Society in
simpler way.

At the end of case study, I expect that the proposed system will not only assist the
cooperative but also the farmers who are the main stakeholders. Also use of ICT in dairy
industry will be boosted.

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Contents
DECLARATION ......................................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................................ iii
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................ v
TABLE OF FIGURES & LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. viii
ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background to the study ............................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Purpose of the study ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Statement of the problem .............................................................................................................. 3
1.4 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.1 Main Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.2 Specific Objectives ................................................................................................................ 3
1.5 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 4
1.6 Research scope .............................................................................................................................. 4
1.7 Research Site................................................................................................................................. 4
1.8 Justification ................................................................................................................................... 4
1.9 Assumptions.................................................................................................................................. 5
1.9.1 Limitations ................................................................................................................................. 5
1.9.2 Significance of the study ............................................................................................................ 5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 6
2.1 Introduction to the review ............................................................................................................. 6
2.2 Case studies................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.1 Prompt Automatic Milk Collection System. .......................................................................... 6
2.2.2 Akashganga - Automatic Milk Collection Systems ............................................................... 7
2.2.3 Smart Milk Procurement System ........................................................................................... 7
2.3 Research Gap ................................................................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 9
3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 9
3.2 Research Design............................................................................................................................ 9
3.3 Data Collection Method ................................................................................................................ 9
3.3.1 Observations .......................................................................................................................... 9
3.3.2 Questionnaire ......................................................................................................................... 9
3.4 Target Population .......................................................................................................................... 9

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 3.5 Sampling and Sample Size.......................................................................................................... 10
3.6 Data Analysis methods ............................................................................................................... 10
3.7 Software Development Method .................................................................................................. 10
3.7.1 Requirement gathering and analysis .................................................................................... 11
3.7.2 System design ...................................................................................................................... 11
3.7.3 Implementation .................................................................................................................... 11
3.7.4 Integration and Testing ........................................................................................................ 11
3.7.5 Deployment of the system.................................................................................................... 11
3.7.6 Maintenance ......................................................................................................................... 11
3.8 Justification for Methodology ..................................................................................................... 11
3.9 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................................. 11
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 13
APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 14

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TABLE OF FIGURES & LIST OF TABLES
Figure 1: Waterfall development model, the figure describes the waterfall development process in
each step ............................................................................................................................................... 10
APPENDIX A: Research Budget.............................................................................................................. 14
APPENDIX B: Time schedule.................................................................................................................. 15

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ABBREVIATIONS
AMCS ------------------AUTOMATIC MILK COLLECTION SYSTEM

DCS ---------------------DAIRY CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY

GDP ---------------------GRAND DOMESTIC PRODUCT

ICT ----------------------INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

NDMCS -----------------NYALA DAIRY MULTIPURPOSE COOPERATIVE SOCIETY

MAS ---------------------MOST ADVANCED SOFTWARE

SQL ----------------------STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE

SMPS --------------------SMART MILK PROCUREMENT SYSTEM

SNF-----------------------SOLID-NOT-FAT

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Kenya is the leading milk producer in East Africa. Dairy farming being the largest
agricultural sub-sector in Kenya in terms of income and employment creation contributing to
8% to overall GDP. Currently the sector provides income and employment to over 1.5 million
households across the dairy value chain (farmers, collectors, processors, traders, input and
service providers, etc.). The country has around 6.1 million dairy cows, producing about
607kg/year/cow, and a total of annual production around 3.7 million kg of milk. Kenya’s
dairy industry is private sector driven. In terms of nutrition and food security, almost all
Kenyans consume milk on a daily basis (about 98kg/capita/year in milk equivalent).

Small scale dairy farming dates back to the 1950s when restrictions on Africans to grow cash
crops and practice large scale farming were removed by the colonial government. (Chema
1983) states that grade dairy cattle farming was started in Kenya by European colonial
settlers and it remained exclusively in the hands of the white settlers and was 2 guided by
colonial policies formulated to benefit the white settler farmers at the expense of their African
counterparts. Milk production is mainly from cattle (3.5 million head of Friesian, Ayrshire,
jersey and Guernsey breed and their crosses and 9.3 indigenous animals). Most dairy cattle
feed is from natural forage, cultivated fodder and crop by-products. Some commercial feeds
include dairy meal, dairy cubes, calf pullets, maize germ, maize bran, molasses, wheat
pollard and wheat bran. About 500,000 tons of commercial livestock feed was produced in
2007.

An estimate of 55% of the milk produced in Kenya, mainly from dairy cattle, enters the
market. Most (more than 75 percent) is marketed through informal(unlicensed) channels,
with about 30 processors and other formal milk marketers handling about 400 million liters
per a year, much of it in liquid form.

Possible negative environmental impacts of dairy production activities include loss of

vegetation through overgrazing of natural pastures, and pollution from industrial processing.

At the farm level, dairy activities are estimated to generate, for every 1 000 litres of milk
produced daily, about 23 full-time jobs for the self-employed, 50 permanent full-time jobs for
employees, and three full-time casual labour jobs, making a total of 77 direct farm jobs per 1

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000 litres of daily production, or a total of about 841 000 full-time jobs (585 000 for full-time
hired workers and 256 000 for self-employed/farm owners). In the processing sector, 13 jobs
are generated for every 1 000 litres of milk handled, or a total of about 15 000 jobs. The
informal sector accounts for about 70 percent of the jobs in dairy marketing and processing,
generating 18 employment opportunities for every 1 000 litres of milk handled, or a total of
40 000 jobs. Institutions involved in the dairy sector include regulators, input suppliers,
service providers, market agents, research and development organizations and dairy farmers
and their organizations. Regarding the regulatory framework, Vision 2030 recognizes that the
agriculture sector (including dairy) has been operating under outdated colonial legislation
dating back to the 1930s, which is impeding growth in the sector; the government has
promised to reform this legislation and other areas that need updating. Besides, as a result of
dairy industry liberalization, there are now several institutions that are responsible for the
organization and general development of the dairy industry in Kenya. (FAO, 2011)

In my project setting I decided to take Nyala Dairy Multipurpose Co-operative Society

limited (NDMCS) as my case study. This is a cooperative society owned by dairy farmers
from Nyandarua and Laikipia counties. It was established in February 2002 and collects an
average of 30,000 liters of milk per day from more than 6,000 farmers. The co-operative
society lack tools and systems to properly collect and track milk productivity data of farmers
which makes management, planning, extension delivery and other relevant services difficult
to provide.

The co-operatives have a teams of milk transporters who make trips around the area
collecting milk from the farmers. Most of the milk transporters uses trucks and each truck
consist of two people, driver and his assistant. Assistant jumps out of the truck just as it
comes to each station. He quickly hangs his weighing scale on a hook at the back of the truck.
The people available in the station rush to have their milk weighed. The milk is poured into
one of the metallic milk cans. They take out a journal book and records milk weights and the
metallic milk can number. They also do the same on the farmer’s milk card for the month.
Taking metallic milk-can number is always important incase milk ferments’, the
administration is able to track the farmers who had poured on that milk-can. The method of
keeping track of daily milk records is tedious and difficult because sometimes when it rains,
writing in the journal book becomes impossible. Also, manual bookkeeping is slow and prone
to human error, hence the need of adopting a digital system in operation that will make work
easier to the society.

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By digitizing these traditional analog processes, will affectively streamline the daily
administrative workload in milk procurement by capturing data at the farm gate and then
sending the data to a remote database. The system will important not only to the dairy society
but also to the farmers.

1.2 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this project is to come up with Nyala Dairy Milk Delivery Management
System that will improve Kenya dairy industry sector in line with the BIG 4 agenda and
vision 2030. This can be attained through adding technology innovations as an enabling
environment factor in dairy farming sector.

1.3 Statement of the problem

Milk collection from the farmers is one of the main operations in milk processing. The
farmers who sell their milk to the dairy cooperatives are small scale farmers, majority of them
living in rural areas where infrastructure is poor with limited connection. As result, dairy
cooperatives who serves these farmers face many challenges in their bid to procure milk from
every farmer including high cost of operations and lack of transparency due to use of manual
records. Manual bookkeeping practices are slow and prone to human error. Moreover,
bookkeeping for hundreds of farmers without a proper system brings a lot of work especially
when accuracy is in play.

1.4 Objectives
1.4.1 Main Objectives
To deliver a milk management system that will digitize the process of procuring milk and
keeping records for Nyala Multipurpose dairy Co-operative Society limited in a simpler way
using a software for data collection.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

To develop a system that:

1. Enables agent to weigh milk from the farmers and automatically transmit its reading
to a remote database (require a key-in the values of kg delivered). 2-way checkup, a
farmer and agent key-in values, if they tally, the values are stored into the database,
otherwise it gives an error
2. Sends an acknowledgment SMS to the farmer, Detail of SMS:
i. day of milk delivery.

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 ii. milk amount (kg) delivered on that day.
iii. The milk can number
3. Sends a monthly statement of total milk delivered to the farmer and money paid
4. Verify milk delivered at the gate of the factory is the similar to the records in the
database
5. Create a payment record

1.5 Research Questions

1. How best can milk collection and recording be made better through ICT?
2. How will the proposed system allow the management achieve efficiency in their day-
to-day activities?
3. How will the proposed system reduce time wasted in milk procurement station, hence
reducing milk that go into waste?
4. How will the proposed system bring transparency?

1.6 Research scope

This system is meant to serve management of Nyala Multipurpose dairy Co-operative Society
and the farmers. It will facilitate digitizing the analog processes of recording daily
information from the farmers.

1.7 Research Site

This study is undertaken within Ngobit ward and Ndaragwa areas. These are areas where
Nyala Multipurpose dairy Co-operative Society operates.

1.8 Justification
The system will be appropriate for solving the problem faced by co-operative when recording
dairy information of the farmers. The milk transporters will able to procure milk and send
data into a remote database hence eliminating paper work.

The system having the functionality of sending a notification message to the farmer’s phones
will reduce burden of carrying milk card as sometimes the farmer forgets carrying the card.

By use of 2-way checkup will bring transparency as the system is able to prompt an error
message in case the two values entered do not rhyme.

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1.9 Assumptions
In the conduction of this research the following assumption will be made.

It will be assumed that: i) The respondent will be truthful.

ii)The respondent will understand the questions.

iii)The respondent knows how to read and write.

Iv)The respondent has access to internet.

1.9.1 Limitations
The following limitations will be expected over the course of this research. They include:

i)Budget constraints.

ii)Time constraints.

iii)Language barrier.

1.9.2 Significance of the study

The significance of this study is to streamline the process of collecting and recording milk
delivered information, bringing transparency and eliminating use of manual bookkeeping.
Also, this study will boost the use of ICT in dairy industry.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction to the review
Automated technologies that provide solutions to milk dairy industry have been developed in
most of the developed and third world countries that produce milk in large quantities. The
systems have led to improvement of the way data is collected and stored for managerial
functions. This chapter therefore is aimed at exploring similar systems related to Automated
milk management system, brief description, architecture and their implementations.

2.2 Case studies

2.2.1 Prompt Automatic Milk Collection System.
Prompt Automatic Milk Collection System (Prompt AMCS) is a leading daily management
software used by dairy industries in India. It is an initiative by Prompt group to empower the
milk producer’s in India. It is a contemporary and technologically advanced dairy solution
aimed to digitize the farmers and rural areas of India. The system automates the traditional
milk collection and procurement process followed by the dairy Industries. Prompt AMCS is
primarily installed at VDCS (Village Cooperative Societies) to perform operations like milk
quality testing and analysis at the time of milk collection through advanced Embedded
Devices. The test comprises of measuring Milk Quantity, Fat & SNF, Water Proportion and
Milk Density of milk submitted by farmers. The data obtained is recorded in the Most
Advanced Software (MAS) and stored securely over Prompt Cloud.

Prompt AMCS is made up of AMCS Software, Mobile Application and Embedded Devices,
mainly the products are interconnected, have role-based authorized access to data in Prompt
Cloud and used by end-users like personal at Milk Federations dairy farmers, VDCS
operators and milk transporters.

Prompt AMCS has really helped as it provides central database and record management
system that facilitate live monitoring of changes in milk price and its fat content, calculating
exact price of milk automatically while saving a lot of time. However Prompt AMCS requires
centralized place where it is fixed having ample internet connectivity and power connected.
This makes it difficult for local villagers to use it as majority of them are scattered and they
can only be accessed when truck drivers move across the area collecting and recording milk
information. (Prompt_Automatic_Milk_Collection_System.Pdf, n.d.)

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2.2.2 Akashganga - Automatic Milk Collection Systems
Akashganga (meaning ‘The Milky Way’) was developed by Sulax Shah, a graduate from
Sardar Patel University and it is being used at the Dairy Cooperative Society (DCS) in India.
He came up with the system comprising computer hardware and software, as well as milk
weighing, testing, and interfacing equipment. The interface equipment is a microprocessor
based electronic unit that allows the data about the milk to be transmitted to the PC. The data
transmitted is also displayed on a display board, connected to the milk testing equipment.
Due to the benefits that Akashganga systems have delivered, Shree Kamdhenu Electronics
Private Limited (SKEPL) has been able to gain faith and trust of its customers, despite their
inherent lack of understanding of technology. The systems have some benefits such as; It
encompasses the entire rural community and it is tailored to extremely user friendly by the
community. However,

2.2.3 Smart Milk Procurement System

SMPS is an Android Operating System based Milk Procurement is specially made to meet the
needs of VLCC and its members. One key operation of the system is to measure/weigh milk,
indicate fat, SNF percentage, price payable to the member, indicate member number, date-
time and shift of supply through a slip printing. For the record of VLCC, a report is generated
at the end of each session containing number member, milk procured in liters fat content,
amount payable to each member separately. Every cycle wise member, ledger containing
information on total milk supplied and the amount payable to the member for the period is
generated. The SMPS is low cost for small village level collection center. It comprises with
weighing scale and milk testing machine. The interface has electronic weighing scale,
Bluetooth thermal printer and M.T.M OR Milk Analyzer, Digital Indicator for customers
which is showing customer code. Milk quantity, Fat, SNF content and amount to be paid to
the customer. The system can store unlimited data. It also provides an auto backup facility of
full database to the sever through use of cloud. The manual system is used in case of failure
of serial link of weighing scale or fat testing machine. Same display of scale and MTM
reading is available on SMPS screen during dumping and testing. SMPS export in any
database format which is used by client through internet or Any Media like SMS on Mobile,
WhatsApp, Email, SQL Server on cloud.

2.3 Research Gap

Several work and implementation based on ICT in dairy industry have been developed as
shown in the above case studies. Almost all systems that I have gone through are fixed at one

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place, that is, in-house systems. The systems require the farmer to deliver milk to the co-
operative premises so that it can be weighed electronically and measured fat content. This can
be difficult to many farmers in Kenya because most of them live in remote areas, far away
from cooperative headquarters. Also, the system requires a large space where it can be
mounted and connected to electricity. This can be difficult to be implemented since the
cooperative has given tenders to milk transporters, who make trips with their truck to procure
milk from the farmers on their behalf. These trucks are always full with big metallic cans,
hence nowhere the system can be mounted. Also, it’s difficult for truck to produce electric
current that can sustain the system. Due to above limitations of the existing systems, the
proposed system will be simple to use because it requires only android phone which will be
used by the milk procurers to key-in data and send it to a remote database.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives an outline of research methods that were followed in the study. It refers to
the process of collecting information, data and theoretical analysis of the findings. Therefore,
the management of every project is paramount in successful coming up with an elaborate
working system. I will use various methods and procedures in the process of initiating,
planning, executing, control and closure.

3.2 Research Design

A quantitative research approach was chosen as the methodology because this approach
reinforces use of numbers and statistics to make decisions and chose the best way forward by
an organization. Data was collected using in-depth interviews and questionnaires to
determine how the farmers felt about the new system, the truck transporters and also the dairy
company.

3.3 Data Collection Method

Data collection method involves a discovery and establishment of the facts of an issue. In
study of system development, the researcher needs to collect facts and other relevant
information about the system to be developed. There are several techniques used to collect
the data. The following are the data collection methods that I will use in my system
development.

3.3.1 Observations
This method involves closely monitoring what is happening in the area of the study. I will
pay a visit to milk collection centers there in the village and observe keenly how the process
goes on.

3.3.2 Questionnaire
In this method, the analyst gives out a set of printed or written questions with a choice of
answers devised for the purpose of the survey on the area of the study. I will prepare a set of
printed questions and present it to the management, milk transporters and farmers.

3.4 Target Population

The target population for this study will be generally dairy farmers and more specifically
small-scale dairy farmers who depend on dairy companies and factories to pickup their milk.
The farmers I will target are from Ndaragwa and Ngobit ward areas where most of them sell
their milk to NDMCS.
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3.5 Sampling and Sample Size
The cooperative has about three routes. Each route has around 20 stops at collection centers
and each collection center has an average of 15-20 farmers but the number varies depending
on the season and insemination. I will be sampling some of these collection centers.

3.6 Data Analysis methods

After collecting the data, I will analyze the findings using the bar graphs and the pie charts to
visually show the data collected by the questionnaires and interviews conducted.

3.7 Software Development Method

The software development method that I will use to guide me during the development process
is the waterfall development model. The waterfall method emphasizes that a logical
progression of steps be taken through the software development life cycle (SDLC), more like
the cascading steps down an incremental waterfall. The logical nature of the sequential
process used in waterfall method remains a common process in development. Waterfall
model is easy to manage due to the rigidity of the model. Each phase has specific deliverables
and a review process (Langer, 2016). Phases are processed and completed one at a time

Figure 1: Waterfall development model, the figure describes the waterfall development process in each
step
The sequential phases in waterfall model are:

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3.7.1 Requirement gathering and analysis- All possible requirements of the system to be
developed are captured in this phase and documented in a requirement specification
document

3.7.2 System design- The requirement specifications from first phase are studied in this phase
and the system design is prepared. This system design helps in specifying hardware and the
system requirements and helps in defining the overall system architecture.

3.7.3 Implementation – With inputs from the system design, the system is first developed in
small programs called units, which are integrated in the next phase. Each unit is developed
and tested for its functionality, which is referred to as Unit Testing

3.7.4 Integration and Testing- All the units developed in the implementation phase are
integrated into a system after testing of each unit. Post integration the entire system is tested
for any faults and failures.

3.7.5 Deployment of the system - Once the functional and non-functional testing is done, the
product is deployed to the customer environment or released into the market.

3.7.6 Maintenance – There are some issues which come up in the client environment. To fix
those issues, patches are released. Also, to enhance the product some better versions are
released. Maintenance is done to deliver these changes in the customer’s environment.

3.8 Justification for Methodology

I will use mostly questionnaires to collect the data from the farmers and other stakeholders
because they are easier to collect information from a wide a range of people as opposed to
interviews of where I will be required to carry interviews from each individual, which will be
time consuming and tiring. Questionnaires also enables participants to feel freedom of
keeping their information private. Also, I will use observation because it is another easiest
way of collecting data as it will require to observe what is happening in milk station how
weighing and recording milk information is done.

3.9 Ethical considerations

The ethical issues to consider during this research include:

• Respect for anonymity and confidentiality. During the entire process of this research, I shall
ensure that participant’s respect for anonymity and confidentiality is held.

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• Respect for privacy. Privacy is the freedom an individual has to determine the time, extent,
and general circumstances under which private information will be shared with or withheld
from others.
• Informed consent. When collecting data from the participants it shall be after the consent of
the participants.

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REFERENCES
FAO. (2011). Dairy development in Kenya , by H.G. Muriuki. Rome. Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, 41. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al745e/al745e00.pdf

Langer, A. M. (2016). Guide to Software Development. In Guide to Software Development.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6799-0

Prompt_Automatic_Milk_Collection_System.pdf. (n.d.).

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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: Research Budget
Item Description Cost in KES
Internet For research materials 5,000
stationery Proposal, progress documents 3200
etc.
Printing and Binding Proposal progress, final 2500
documentation
Journals and research bodies ACM, IEEE 1500
Data collection questionnaires 3000
Transport and Accommodation To and from university 4500

Android smart phone 16 GB (internal storage) 15,000

Miscellaneous Unexpected cost 10,000

TOTAL 44,700

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APPENDIX B: Time schedule

APPENDIX B: Time schedule

Duration in Nov Dec Jan Feb March April May June July
months
Proposal
presentation
Gathering of
requirements
and
necessary
information
Development
prototype
Progress
presentation
Finish on the
development
Project
Testing
Presentation
of final work

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