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Maendeleo Vijijini
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Failure to access cheaper and quality fodder has made dairy
farming a loss-making venture for many farmers, Meru County Director of
Livestock David Mugambi has said.
“Many farmers are now
buying wheat straw, maize stalks, grass and hay to feed their animals
because they do not have land to grow their own fodder,” he said.
The
fodder, according to him, has insufficient nutrients for milk
production, with the low yields leading to high costs, thus, losses to
farmers.
Dr Mugambi noted that due to high cost of
production, many farmers preferred selling raw milk to earn more instead
of delivering to processors.
“Only 35 percent of the
milk produced in Meru goes for processing. Dairy animal feeds have a
significant impact on the milk market,” he added.
He advised residents to take advantage of the shortage in quality feeds to venture into fodder farming.
POOR QUALITY FEEDS
A survey
done last year by Kenya Dairy Board and Egerton University in 20
counties showed that farmers in Meru had the lowest gross margin of
Sh4.6 per litre of milk despite high net prices.
“Meru
has a dairy herd of 180,000 cows against a growing population of more
than 1.5 million people. About 100,000 dairy cows are productive
annually producing 126 million litres. There is potential to produce
more than 200 million litres of milk with quality feeds,” Dr Mugambi
said.
According to the survey, dairy farmers in Meru
were spending Sh30.4 to produce a litre of milk, with the high cost
blamed on hired labour in addition to substantial usage of feed
concentrates.
Mugambi noted the average dairy milk production per cow was 8.3 litres because most farmers were relying on poor quality feeds.
“Our
plan is to have strategic hay stores where fodder farmers can display
their produce for dairy keepers. With training from extension officers,
we can improve the quality of feeds,” he said, adding the county
government was advocating for fewer, productive dairy cows to increase
earnings.
SOURCE: NATION MEDIA GROUP
SOURCE: NATION MEDIA GROUP
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