• The goat AI centre to start production from in 2021.
• A dairy goat currently sells at between Sh25,000 to Sh30,000.
Image: FILE
The government is set to open a goats' artificial insemination centre in Kirinyaga county at a cost of Sh500 million.
Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary Andrew Tuimur said that the goat AI centre will produce 500,000 doses of goat semen every year.
The centre will have a laboratory, semen collection area, barns for stocking of feeds and an area where the bucks (male goats) will be kept.
“Many small-scale farmers are now embracing dairy goat farming due to the high proceeds from goat milk,” Tuimur said.
Goat milk is also high in nutrients and proteins and is good for immune-suppressed patients, he said.
A litre of goat milk currently retails for than Sh100, but cow milk goes for less than Sh60.
The CAS said they are targeting to increase the production of milk up to seven to 10 litres per goat per day with the new breeds.
Tuimur spoke on Tuesday when inspected the construction of the centre at Animal Health and Industrial Training Institute- Ahiti Ndombe in Kirinyaga county.
He encouraged farmers and the youth to take up dairy goat farming as it takes little space. Unlike dairy cows the feed required by dairy goats is also low.
The centre will be located in Ahiti in Kirinyaga because most dairy goats are reared mainly in Central Kenya.
The managing director Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Centre at Kabete David Kios said the centre will be commissioned between December 2020 and March 2021. Production will begin immediately.
“The AI centre will help improve milk production from the current one to three litres per day per goat, to about five to seven litres per day per goat,” he added.
Kios said it will also help women and youth to improve their earnings from the sale of high-quality goat breeds.
“Currently there is high demand for goat breeds, especially from the neighbouring countries.
“The high-quality breeds we will get from the centre will have a high chance of giving birth to twins or triplets and this will be good for the farmers.
“One dairy goat fetches between Sh25,000 to Sh30,000,” Kios said.
While commissioning a liquid nitrogen plant in Kirinyaga last year President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Agriculture Ministry set up an AI centre for producing high-quality goat breeds.