The Kakamega government has embarked on the third phase of its one cow initiative to boost the dairy industry.
The programme began in 2015 and targets to assist farmers to upgrade their stock and increase milk production before establishment of a multi-million milk processing plant in Malava subcounty.
The initiative is part of the county government’s efforts to help residents diversify from overreliance on sugarcane farming, which is in crisis.
Deputy Governor Philip Kutima started distributing 500 in-calf heifers to farmers across the county. Selected farmers received 600 cows in the first phase and a similar number in the second phase.
“This project aims at empowering the community so that households can generate income besides enhancing nutrition of their families,” Kutima who also heads the agriculture docket said at Shibuye market in Shinyalu on Wednesday.
The county government plans to set up smart dairies in each of the 12 subcounties to boost milk production and serve as centers of excellence for dairy farmers.
He said smart dairy farms have already been established in Matungu and Lurambi subcounties.
Those for Khwisero, Malava, Mumias East, Shinyalu and Likuyani will be established this financial year while Butere, Mumias West and Navakholo farms will be set up in the 2020-2021 financial year.
But some of the beneficiaries of the programme in the first phase sold the cows they were given and were arrested.
Kutima said that the county is also offering artificial insemination services to farmers at a subsidized cost to encourage them to upgrade their flocks.
In his address to the county assembly on Wednesday, Senator Cleophas Malala said that the one cow-initiative should be audited.
“The people and their leaders must know how many cows have been given out so far, how much milk is being collected from these cows, where is the milk being collected and/or sold and whether the project is still viable,” he said.
