BANGLADESH DELEGATION TEAM VISIT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL TO LEARN AND BENCHMARK ON HUB DAIRY FARMING. (NANDI AND UASIN-GISHU COUNTY)

Heifer international received an entourage from Bangladesh led by Livestock and Fisheries Minister Narayon Chandra, Mohammed Asaduzzaman the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Mahbub Alam (project director) and Siddiqur Rahman the country director Heifer International Bangladesh who had visitedto familiarize with Hub dairy farming practiced by Kenya.

The EADD Country Project Manager Mr. Douglas Masika took the delegation to Kabiyet Dairies Cooperative Ltd in Mosop Sub-County, visit organized by our very own KDFF CEO Mr. David Bet. Those Present during the event included the Deputy Governor in Nandi County Dominic Chebyegan, the Chief Officer

Agriculture, livestock and fisheries Willy Too, Nandi County CEC for Agriculture Mrs. Mary Ngelechei.

Kabiyet dairies was founded by Heifer International EADD I in 2008 and started collecting milk in 2009 with 1623 liters per day and sold milk at KShs 10 per liter. The Dairy was then supported by EADD to acquire its first cooler so that they could bulk and chill their milk. EADD also advised the dairy company to offer transport services to farmers living in the interior places at a small fee.

EADD also provided extensive training and extension services to their farmers on Productivity Enhancing technologies and Climate smart agriculture and fodder seeds were also provided to the farmers; calliandra, sorghum, oats, Lucerne, Boma Rhodes and desmodium and now, the Producer organization processes its own feeds.

Through partnerships with ABS (African Breeders Services) and EADD, Kabiyet dairies farmers were introduce to AI and provided with semen so as to improve on their breeds and increase production.

The delegation team managed to see the operations of the hub (milk collection, Agrovet, FSA and the feed processing plant). The visitors were also taken to a farmer Rose who practices zero grazing, AI, fodder growing (calliandra, Napier, sorghum and oats), and also makes silage.

Speaking during the event, the Bangladesh Minister applauded the efforts by EADD, local farmers and Kabiyet Dairies Cooperative Ltd. citing their visit as timely, “The visit will give us the knowledge required to improve milk production”. He said, noting that Bangladesh suffers a milk deficit of 56%. Bangladesh is ranked the fourth in the world when it comes to fish and rice farming and encouraged farmers to diversify their farming to fish, rice and horticulture production, “We should also have exchange visits with people going to Bangladesh to learn more on agriculture and livestock production.”

The Kabiyet Dairies prods itself for changing the lives of small scale farmers through their hub farming program which includes bringing the following services closer to them; FSA SACCO, Agro vets, A.I services, feed milling, transport and

extension services. The Board Chairman also mentioned that the cooperative has been able to purchase 5 chilling tanks with a total capacity of 30,000 liters, put up 4 satellite coolers and is able to collect over 29,500 Liters of milk per day across the sub-county.

So far, the Dairy Company has a capital base of KShs 6,347,240 million and an investment portfolio totaling KSHS 72 million and an income of 43 million in the seven years. “Production is high when the rains are high” said Songok the manager Kabiyet, “20% of our milk goes to the processor and the 80% is sold through local markets but there is no shortage of milk in Nandi County”

The Board chairman of the Dairies Mr. Abraham Rugut stole the show to highlight their future planswhich included purchasing and installation of a milk processing plant to curb farmer exploitation by other external processors, “We plan to set up our own processor to stop exploitation and to uplift livelihoods of our farmers through quality prices and services”. He stated.

The dairies also plan to have all its collection centers own a cooling tank and to work closely with the county government in future to improve road network. The chairman board of directors Kabiyet dairies thanked EADD for their support and extensive trainings.

“Both countries (Bangladesh and Kenya) are developing countries and have agriculture as the main focus, and within a short while, we will have our farmers declared pedigree farmers. Learn the best dairy practices from us and soon we will come to learn about rice production from your country.” concluded Douglas the Country Project manager.

Left above (the deputy governor UG County. Right the deputy governor Nandi County. Left below, the chairman KDFF gives a speech)