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Payout to Brookside farmers rises 29pc to Sh1.9 billion
Brookside Dairy's quality assurance officers test raw milk from farmers delivering to a mobile cooler at Ngorika, Nakuru County.
Farmers in the Central and South Rift Valley region contracted by milk processor Brookside Dairy were paid Sh1.9 billion for deliveries made in 2024.
The payout represents a 29 percent growth over earnings in 2023 and reflects the benefits of favourable weather and the adoption of better husbandry practices.
Narok County led the pack with farmers in the area drawing Sh1 billion in returns from raw milk sold to the processor, up from Sh680 million in 2023. Farmers in the Nakuru region received Sh854 million, up from Sh794 million in 2023, while those in Kericho and Bomet counties earned a combined Sh69 million, representing a nine percent increase over income in the previous year.
Emmanuel Kabaki, Brookside’s milk procurement general manager, said the processor was committed to strengthening partnerships with all its farmers through sustainable initiatives and investment in climate-resilient practices that guarantee optimal milk production across all seasons.
“Our commitment is to continue providing a guaranteed market for milk supplied by farmers and to make timely payment for it. This enables the dairy sub-sector to play its crucial role of turning the wheels of the economies of the rural areas,” Mr Kabaki said in a statement issued in Nakuru.
He said Brookside was committed to making the dairy enterprise a source of guaranteed family income.
“We continue to invest in cold chain infrastructure across key milk sheds to ensure that our farmers have milk cooling facilities closer to them, as part of our wider quality control systems at the upstream phase of the value chain,” Mr Kabaki said.
“We will continue to procure 100 percent of all contract volumes supplied by our farmers. We urge farmers to continue preparing and conserving adequate fodder to ensure 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.
