Nandi milk farmers are looking forward to better prospects, with a new Sh1 billion milk processing plant expected to be operational by August.
When it opens, the Nandi Dairy Cooperative Factory, one the largest in the North Rift region, is expected to help dairy farmers avoid exploitation by middlemen. It will also create some 250 jobs for locals.
The plant, funded in a partnership between the Nandi County government and the World Bank, is at 90 per cent complete, Governor Stephen Sang said.
It is expected to process over 200,000 litres of milk and serve more dairy farmers in Nandi and other counties.
Since the start of devolution in 2013, dairy farmers in Nandi have been demanding the setting up of such a milk factory to buy and process milk from them, decrying exploitation from middlemen.
Middlemen buy a litre of milk for less than Sh30 before transporting it to urban towns where the same amount sells for Sh60, double the buying price.
Governor Sang says the factory, one of his legacy projects, will process milk from 40 other small-scale farmers’ societies before transporting it to Kabiyet township in Mosop constituency where the factory is located.
He said the plant, whose construction started in 2019, will have enough storage to process milk from nearby counties too. He urged farmers to invest in quality animals to increase milk production.
One of the biggest challenges facing dairy farmers in the North Rift region, he said, is mismanagement of cooperative societies, noting that many have collapsed with farmers’ money.
He said that when he assumed office in 2018, he found many cooperative societies in Nandi County were not functional and revived a majority of them.
He had also demanded that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) take action against people who embezzled farmers’ funds and mismanaged cooperative societies.
The governor noted that during the Moi era, the old KCC collapsed with millions of shillings belonging to farmers in the Rift Valley and that some of the farmers had died without receiving payment for milk they delivered to the milk processor.
Agriculture executive Dr Kiplimo Lagat urged farmers to make use of extension officers and improve the quality of livestock.
Noting that the demand for milk was high in urban areas, he urged them to practise large-scale milk production, saying it was one way of tackling poverty in rural areas.
The county government, he said, would ensure other cooperative societies, including those serving coffee and poultry farmers, are fully revived to create wealth for them.
