Two Nyeri leaders have proposed that the Sh60 million Wamagana fish factory be converted into a milk processing plant.
Nyeri governor hopeful industrialist Thuo Mathenge and Tetu parliamentary aspirant Alex Gathii said the plant was operating below capacity.
It was completed in 2011 and handed over to the county in 2016. It is capable of processing 12 tonnes per week but has been doing 50 to 200 kilos.
Fish farming was introduced under the Economic Stimulus Programme in 2010 by President Mwai Kibaki at a cost of Sh300 million to enable farmers to supplement earnings from tea, coffee and dairy.
The processing plant alone cost the national government Sh60 million.
The national government also constructed about 300 fish ponds in every constituency bringing the total number of ponds in the county to about 2,500.
Some 30 community dams were also renovated and stocked with fingerings, but the project failed to take off.
Thuo and Gathii, however, said is time the factory was used in the dairy value addition since farmers from the county produce more milk than fish.
They said the move will help create jobs and enable farmers to earn more from their milk.
Mathenge said other than milk, the factory can be used to process other farm produce like coffee and horticulture which can be packaged at the facility, sold locally and the excess exported.
Gathii, who is the managing director of Tanolope Consultancy, said there is need for Tetu farmers to improve milk production.
Tanalope Consultancy offers consulting services to dairy farmers.
“Milk is fetching a lot of money but our farmers are unable to produce enough,” he said.
Gathii has been organising dairy farmers’ field days in Nyeri to sensitise them on how they can improve milk production.
The latest field day was held at Wamagana Stadium in Tetu subcounty, Nyeri county on Sunday.
The same applies to the entire country which Gathii said, though has a dairy cow population of four million, sufficient to produce enough milk to feed the population; farmers still produce less milk.
Farmers have been producing less than 10 litres per cow with the majority producing two to three litres per cow which is uneconomical.
He pledged to work with Tetu farmers to ensure they improve the milk production.
“If farmers can feed their cows well with the right type of fodder and give them mineral salts, the cows can produce between 10 to 15 litres of milk even before the use of commercial feeds like dairy meal and concentrates,” he said.
Other factors that can increase production include giving them enough water and making the animals comfortable.
Gathiii called on farmers to grow fodder that is rich in protein and carbohydrates.
Gathii and Mathenge are vying on a TND ticket.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
