Kirinyanga county has scaled up subsidised feed production to increase milk production.
Governor Anne Waiguru says the county farmers had earlier been producing 2.5 litres of milk per cow per day but the effort has seen the same increase to 7.8 litres with the target being 12.5 litres.
To cope with the demand for the feeds, Waiguru said the county has procured two manual and two semi-automatic duo processing lines to increase the capacity of the factory to 360 bags per day up from 110 bags.
“When we started this programme, this production factory had only one line with a capacity of producing 110 bags of 70kgs animal feeds per day. Today the factory has grown big and we are now able to supply to many farmers cheap but quality animal feeds,” she said.
The number of farmers accessing the subsidised feeds has also risen to 10,000 up from 1200.
The feed she said will be retailing to dairy farmers at Sh2,300 per 70 kilo bag as opposed to Sh2,900-Sh3,500 in the market.
“They are going to be distributed through four dairy cooperatives. These cooperatives are being given these feeds to distribute closer to where the farmers are,” she said.
The cooperatives are Rung’eto, Pondago, Kirima and Rukingo.
The subsidised feeds are manufactured at the county-run Kiaga production factor which produces feed for both poultry and cows.
“The purpose of this project is to increase the production of milk for our farmers. We have been working on a concerted effort including giving them Artificial Insemination (AI) services,” she said.
More than 150,000 households have benefited from the AI services.
