Eldoret — With an upsurge on the prices of commodities, from fuel to food and other essential commodities in the country, the dairy and poultry sector has not been spared with a litre of milk going for at least Sh70 at retail price from Sh60 and a tray of eggs going for Sh380 from Sh330.
For this price to get to this point, it all starts from the farms where these animals are bred, what they feed on and the care they are given, meaning that if the cost of production is high then the cost of the products will escalate.
However, the upsurge of this cannot be independently attributed to fuel prices alone though it has been termed as the main external contributor as it affects all sectors. The opening up of the East African market where goods from neighboring countries are brought in, tax free, has also been a hindrance and this is evident from the various chick vendors in Uasin Gishu County who import the chicks they buy from the neighbouring Uganda at Sh60 per chick and sell them for Sh100.
According to the Department of Livestock in the Uasin Gishu County, the control of prices is not under their jurisdiction, rather for them: “We have worked to ensure that we educate the farmers to learn ways of developing the feeds locally on farm feed formulation on set ingredients such as; the seed cake, wheat bran and sun flower and also locally grown and bought commodities like silage and sardines for proteins,” said Simon Langat director livestock development.
The department has singled out farmers on the specific ingredients and the amount to be used for a well-balanced diet of nutrients needed in the feeds, which will reciprocate to the production of the animals. The department further guides the farmers on the economy of scale where they are guided on valuation based on the number of livestock found on the farm so as to avoid breeding losses on their farms.
Farmers in the county also have several cooperatives and special groups of interest, where the department does group approaches to reach out to them since it cannot do a one-on-one visit on every farm. This is evident in the various areas like in Kapseret where they sell locally produced foods which have been standardized by the bureau. The farmers are also encouraged to embrace food production in their farms.
The department however embraced an initiative dubbed: “Operation Maziwa litre Kumi” an initiative set to ensure that farmers’ cows get to produce at least 10 litres of milk per day. The operation is focused on fodder production on the local farms, general farm management and training of the farmers in their based cooperatives. The operation is envisioned to increase the supply of milk in the county which will in turn facilitate local production and consumption of dairy products.
A spot check on various stalls in Eldoret town further paints the picture of why the department is encouraging local production of dairy and poultry feeds simply because a 70kg of dairy meal ranges between Sh 1, 800 – Sh 2, 300 basing on the company the sellers get their feeds from as a 50kg bag of chick mash ranges from Sh 2, 700 to Sh 3, 300 and a 10kg bag of the same ranging from Sh 600 – Sh 750 depending on the manufacturers of the given feed.