Maasai Women Turn to Dairy Goats

By John Kamau

(Orgilai-Oloirien, Narok, Kenya): When 54-year old Mary Kuluo saw a poster urging Maasai women to rear dairy goats that had high milk potential she got interested - but for a different reason. In her family farm of more than 120 acres are 200-plus cows that she aptly describes as "useless".

"Even if 10 of them give birth, they can hardly produce five litres of milk combined", she says contemptuously of the indigenous Zebu breeds on her farm.

Maasai women have culturally little say on cows - a role reserved to men.

"The women are only allowed to own chickens, goats and donkeys", says Bernard Momanyi, the Narok District Agriculture and Livestock Extension Officer. "Thus any introduction of dairy goats among the Maasai had to involve women and they are excited about it".

On the morning Kuluo saw the poster, pasted at the local shopping centre by officers from the National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (Nalep), a ministry of agriculture initiative funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), she made a decision.

"If a single goat could produce 2 litres of milk, why should we continue to bother with useless cows that produced nothing", she says.

The poster Kuluo had seen was part of an ongoing rural initiative by Nalep to economically empower Maasai women by identifying new opportunities that could generate capital, reduce poverty in the rural areas and improve on food security. Overall, it is part of a national programme to introduce a new demand-driven extension approach that makes rural communities the shapers of their destiny.

More critically, it is seen as part of a national measure to allow women participate and benefit from rural development by allowing them to participate in the elaboration and implementation of development planning as demanded by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

"The posters are put in focal areas for farmers to study and make a decision among themselves on opportunities they would want to exploit. When they identify the opportunity they are urged to form a common interest group", says Augustine Rugut, a Nalep extension officer.

In the Orgilai-Oloirien focal area, where the dairy goat experiment among the Maasai women is progressing well some 20 women have formed a common interest group, the Naboisho Self Help Group. It is a small nucleus whose success may herald a wave of dairy goat projects among the Maasai women. Even before they sire kids, the Naibosho Self Help Group has orders from other women groups.

"We want to show other Maasai that there is potential in rearing dairy goats and if we can empower them with that knowledge then they can replace the indigenous breeds and achieve sustainable development", says Josephine Shieni, an official of Naibosho Self Help Group.

The breeds that have been introduced are the Pure Torgenburgs, which were purchased from Baraka Farm in Molo.

"When we visited Baraka Farm in Molo we were amazed by the milk potential these goats have", says Kuluo, excited about the initiative.

Veterinary officers from Narok have been visiting the farms to assess the progress and have trained the Maasai women on how to shelter the dairy goats.

"What I want is to help our community to change their attitude", says Kuluo.

Two times a week, members of her self-help group meet to discuss about new developments and compare notes. "It is a healthy exercise because they can seek intervention of extension officers in case they notice any problem with the dairy goats", says Rugut, a Nalep extension officer.

The cOrgilai-Oloirien focal area has 498 farms with an average acreage of 20 acres per farm according to the local field extension officer, Joseph Oyango.

"That indicates that the farms are not large enough to sustain indigenous breeds and we had to look for a new opportunity for locals", he says. "With dwindling milk production the dairy goats will soon offer solace to many Maasai households here".

With the Nalep initiative Maasai women are becoming pioneers in a project they had never dreamt off and extension officers are using their success to demonstrate firsthand the benefits of keeping dairy goats to other reluctant farmers.

"Their success will trigger interest all over and we foresee a major dairy goat industry emerging from this small nucleus", says Rugut, a Nalep extension officer

The women farmers are also trained on regular basis on how to manage their organisations and through field visits to other areas to witness the success of dairy goat ventures elsewhere.

As time ticks on in Orgilai-Oloirien, the women will soon not be between a rock and hard place but will become partners in development of their humble village.

"I wish I had known about it several years ago", says Kuluo, her face beaming with confidence (Rights Features)