Dairy firm unveils plan to boost farmers’ earnings
Posted on : Wednesday , 12th October 2016
More than 30,000 small-scale farmers in Trans Nzoia and Bungoma counties will benefit from a multi-million-shilling agriculture sustainability project.
Milk processor Brookside Dairy has partnered with Livelihoods Fund, a France-based investment solutions provider and Vi Agroforestry, a development organisation in the initiative.
The project aims at boosting milk production in the Mt Elgon catchment from the current 5,000 to 135,000 litres per day over the next 10 years.
Brookside Dairy will provide market for the raw milk produced, besides working with farmers on improved dairy husbandry practices that would lead to increased milk production.
The Livelihoods Mt Elgon project, which was launched in Kitale yesterday, also seeks to attain food security for the two counties, by increasing crop yields by 30 per cent through sustainable agricultural land management. The project involves 15 cooperatives and 1,200 farmers’ groups.
“The project will secure thriving livelihoods for 30,000 smallholder farmers in the Mt Elgon catchment through increased milk and crop productivity, increased access to markets and better income from sales of farm produce,” said John Gethi, Brookside’s director of milk procurement.
