Dairy farmers in the North Rift contracted by Brookside Dairy earned Sh918 million from the sale of raw milk to the processor, as production increased due to improved agronomic practices by smallholder farmers in the area.
The payout represents a 27 percent increase on the 2022 earnings, with Brookside attributing the growth to the adoption of better farming practices following aggressive farmer empowerment programmes undertaken by the processor in the region.
Farmers in Uasin Gishu County received the highest payout for milk deliveries to the processor at Sh236 million, while those in the West Pokot earned Sh211 million.
“Our expanded processing capacity and vast sales footprint mean we take in all the contracted milk volumes from farmers. At no time would we ration supply, even in seasons of plenty, as we continue to procure 100 percent of all contract volumes supplied by our farmers,” said Emmanuel Kabaki, Brookside’s milk procurement general manager, on the sidelines of the University of Eldoret Agribusiness Trade Fair, on Thursday.
He said Brookside has about 160,000 farmers in the region.
Mr Kabaki underscored the importance of dairy farming to the economies of the rural areas, saying Brookside was committed to making the enterprise a source of guaranteed family income.
“We appreciate our farmers, from all over the country, for working extremely hard this year, which resulted in consistent production and supply of raw milk to us.
"We are confident that our farmers can produce enough milk to meet both the domestic and export demands of the country,” he said.
Mr Kabaki urged farmers to conserve more animal feed to cope with the expected uncertainties of dry weather conditions expected from October to December period and the first quarter of 2025, according to meteorological reports.
“Preparation and conservation of adequate fodder ensures that milk production remains at optimum levels across all seasons. We have established fodder resource centres across the country for propagation and distribution of Super Napier grass to farmers,” he said.
He added that Brookside was also working with farmers on the improvement of dairy cow genetics and had distributed semen straws and liquid nitrogen to partner groups and medium-sized farms for artificial insemination.
