• County distributes high-quality cattle, feed supplements, sanitary cans to store milk instead of plastic.
•County can produce more than 25 million litres of milk annually and county plans to begin value addition to boost income for farmers and uplift their standards of living.
The Kilifi county government has urged dairy farmers to stop storing milk in plastic containers and use aluminium containers.
Milk stored in aluminium meets required sanitary standards.
Authorities also want dairy farmers to stop hawking milk in villages and instead make use of existing storage plants to get good value for their products.
The county has the capacity to produce more than 25 million litres of milk annually. The county plans to begin value addition for the milk products. producing butter, cream, yoghurt, sour milk and other products to improve farmers' income.
The county has been distributing high-quality dairy cattle to farmers' groups for four years. The county has 53,000 dairy cattle; 368 more will be distributed this year.
Kilifi Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi attended the cattle distribution in Sabaki ward, Magarini constituency, with CEC member for Agriculture and Livestock Luciana Sanzua, chief officer for livestock Fredrick Kaingu, MCA Edward Delle and other MCAs
The aluminium storage cans are recommended by Kebs, they are easy to clean so let's stop using plastic cans because they cannot be thoroughly cleaned inside.Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi
More than 100 dairy cattle were distributed, along with aluminium cans for milk storage, hay processors and feed supplements.
Sabri said they want to ensure milk meets the highest standards and fetches good prices.
"The aluminium storage cans are recommended by Kebs, they are easy to clean so let's stop using plastic cans because they cannot be thoroughly cleaned inside,'' he said.
The deputy governor said aluminium cans are safe and ensure milk is stored safely. He encouraged farmers to utilise them and buy more on their own.
Dairy farming s becoming lucrative after b President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered prices to be increased.
"Our county is already on the right track in dairy farming and we will benefit as the price will go up from Sh15 to Sh33, which is good money," he said.
Sanzua urged farmers to ensure they feed their cattle well and give them supplements to increase milk production.
She said the farmers should handle their milk well to produce quality sanitary milk that is acceptable on the market.
''For a long time, we have been unable to access top markets because of poor quality milk production. At times when milk is tested, it is found have been diluted with water or contain dirt, which is unacceptable," Sanzu said.
Sanzu said new national dairy regulations are about to be passed, requiring milk to be transported in clean cans to reach cooling plans safely.
The CEC advised farmers who did not get free cans to seek money from Mbegu funds to get the required can.
Kaingu, chief officer for livestock, said milk hygiene was essential and said plastic os unsanitary.
''The county plans to ensure increased milk production over five years. If that succeeds, we will be building milk collection centres and processing plants," he said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
