Dairy farmers have been urged to stop relying on rain for farming.
Meru Dairy chief executive officer Kennedy Gitonga said farmers should start thinking about irrigation.
“Dairy farmers in Netherlands, Israel and USA do not rely on rainfall so our farmers should emulate this and start using fodder and relying on irrigation instead of climate,” he said.
Gitonga said currently dairy farmers are facing a hard time due to an increase in fuel prices and ongoing drought.
He said the cost of fuel, electricity has made the cost of production go up due to transportation.
“The farmers have not been spared either and rains have failed,” he said.
He said next year, milk productivity might be affected due to lack of rainfall.
Gitonga spoke to the Star in his office on Wednesday.
“Milk productivity has gone down by about 20 per cent because of drought. Were it not for the silage which we have been advising farmers to adopt, we would have been in even a bigger mess,” he said.
The CEO said they aim at producing over 1 million litres annually but they are producing 250,000 litres annually.
Gitonga said farmers have complained about animal feeds that are between Sh2,700 to Sh3,000.
“We are talking to some of the feed producers to bring down the prices but if it does not work we are going to set up our plant to manufacture feeds. Our partners are willing to help,” he said.
He encouraged farmers to prepare farms as rains are due, and lauded the government for subsidising fertiliser, something that will boost dairy farmers.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
