DEVELOPMENT
Extension Challenge as Goat milk market soars
By John Kamau
(Lari, Kiambu)
Kiambu small-scale farmer Benson Kinuthia wants to sell his four cows: -
reason, he has found a new love in dairy goats that are easier to feed and
earn him more income.
Kinuthia is one of 30 residents of Central Kenya's Kamuchege village in
Lari, Kiambu district whose experiment on dairy goats has earned them
accolades - winning trophies at the national agricultural shows. Besides,
the success of their noble dairy goat experiment is turning a small rural
community to focus on a hitherto unknown source of nutrient - goat milk -
also said to have medicinal value.
"We sell the milk in Nairobi. But the demand is very high we cannot supply
to everyone", says Kinuthia hoping other farmers will join in the lucrative
venture.
With a kilo of goat milk selling at shillings 60 compared to shillings 20
for a cow milk, Kinuthia is soon switching to keeping dairy goats. It has
not been a hard decision to make.
"It is an idea borne of logic", he says as we take a walk in his shamba.
During the recent Nairobi Trade Fair (formerly Nairobi Agricultural Show)
Kinuthia sold one goat for shillings 15,000 and another for shillings
12,000. "With such profit, you can see why people here want to switch to
dairy goats", says Kinuthia.
Already the locals have registered the Kamuchege Dairy Goat Self-Help Group,
which has 30 members to meet the challenge ahead.
"We are helping them with technical advise for instance on what to feed the
goats, how to house them, and to link them with other groups", says Kihanya
Mwaura, a National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme officer
based in the area.
At the moment Kinuthia has 9 goats altogether and include 2 British
Togenburgs, 1 Saneen and 6 crossbreeds of the German Alpine breed and the
Toggenburg.
"We got the British Toggenburg from Farm Africa while the Alpines were
brought here from Embu", says Kihanya, an extension officer with the
National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (Nalep), which is
helping farmers at Kamuchege in their new venture.
The Kamuchege area, covering some 417 hectares and with an approximated 420
farmers is one of the five focal areas in Kiambu district where the Swedish
International Development Agency (Sida) funded Nalep is helping farmers to
form common interest groups (CIG) and linking them with research
institutions.
"We want the farmers to tap the knowledge from research institutions after
they have identified their own problems. We also help them to get the best
after they have told us what they need", says Gabriel Ndungu, a Nalep
extension officer.
Benson Kinuthia, who is also the chairman of the Kamuchege Dairy Goat
Self-Help Group, says that local farmers are now benefiting after they
formed themselves into an organisation.
Already they have registered with the national body, the Kenya Dairy Goat
Association as members and have been loaned a grade He-Goat that is used in
the village.
"We have leased it for shillings 4,000 per 15 months and our members pay
shillings 50 for every service", says Patrick Kihanya, who is in charge of
the communal he-goat.
With the Nalep initiative more farmers in this area are becoming pioneers in
dairy goat project and extension officers are using their success to
demonstrate firsthand the benefits of keeping dairy goats to other farmers.
T
"These efforts are creating greater awareness among farmers and increasing
market demand", says Kihanya Mwaura, the Nalep official.
Farmers are also trained on regular basis on how to manage their
organisations and through field visits. "We have many other groups in the
area and we want them to come under one umbrella", says Johnson Mbuthia, the
chairman of the Focal Area.
"We are working with partners, distributors, and community organizations to
improve collaboration, inputs and farm products", says Mbuthia. (RIGHTS
FEATURES)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PROJECT CONTACT
NATIONAL AGRUCULTURE AND LIVESTOCK EXTENSION PROGRAM
EMAIL: [email protected]

John Kamau - Rights Features