Nai’posha dairy farm: From hobby to employing over 60 people

Martin Gatheca’s dairy farm started as a hobby, but seven years down the line, it has created employment for 60 people.

Gatheca started dairy farming after he relocated back to Kenya from the US.

He had thought of a way to keep his elderly mother busy and to ensure she is both economically and food secure.

This is how the idea of dairy farming started. He began keeping three dairy cows for his mother in Gatundu, Kiambu county. 

From three, the cows increased to five then ten, 20 and 50.

After his mother passed away in 2016, he moved the animals to Naivasha where there is a bigger space.

He said his herd continued to increase and by 2019, Gatheca had 300 dairy cows. On a good day, they would produce 1,000 litres of milk. With a litre selling at Sh50, he would make Sh50, 000 in a day.

“I have a client who makes cheese and I sell to him 700 litres daily.  The rest I sell to big hotels around Lake Naivasha", he said.

But things started changing when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and Gatheca has faced many challenges.

“Problems started after the pandemic. Right after Covid, prices of animal feeds shot from Sh1,800 for a 50kg bag of dairy meal to almost Sh3,000. Hotels, that were my main customers closed due to the lockdown. I lost about 40 cows because I was not able to feed them well, and others died due to mastitis and other health related illnesses. Today I have 150 dairy cows, I am now milking 56 cows from 150 cows,” said Gatheca.

He said due to the high cost of animal feed, he had to reduce the amount meals for his cows from five kgs per cow per day to one and half kgs.

This has seen a drastic decline in milk production from an average of 40 litres per cow to 22 litres per cow per day.  

He added that before the animal feed crisis hit the country, he used to make his own dairy meal at the farm but this has stopped due to scarcity and high cost of raw materials.

"Most of the raw materials including maize, soya from Uganda and Tanzania became expensive and we started sourcing them locally. But this too has become expensive,” he said.

Gatheca said besides the high cost of animal feeds, getting quality feeds is also a challenge. This is because even millers are hardly getting enough raw materials to produce quality feeds for the animals.

He attested that his love for the dairy animals and many people relying on the enterprise for a livelihood is what has kept him going despite the many challenges.

"I hardly make any profits. It is just for the love of the animals and the workers.  I used to have 60 workers, now I have 20. I am worried that if things continue as they are, I may be forced to close the farm and I don't know what will happen to the remaining 20 workers," he said.

He said to keep the farm running, he has cut on feeding of the animals on dairy meal and is now supplementing with fodder. He has planted about seven acres of lucern grass which he said is high in proteins.

"This is a substitute for soya and sunflower. I am feeding the animals with more lucern and hay grown in the farm. I have also planted about nine acres of soya," said Gatheca. 

He urged the government to intervene before he is forced to close the farm.

Gatheca said he has travelled to many countries to get more skills in dairy farming and he has learned that farmers receive subsidies from their governments, but not much is being done to support farmers in Kenya.

“I have been in India and what I learnt that most of their dairy farmers don't pay for electricity. Electricity and water is free, there are so many subsidies that farmers receive. I also visited Italy and learnt that during winter, their government supplies hay and Lucern grass to the farmers at a subsidised fee,” said Gatheca.

“Here, farmers are on their own despite the poor rains and the fact that Kenya is a maize deficit country makes matters worse," he added.

He questioned why the government is not allowing millers to import yellow maize or GMO soya that can be used to make animals feeds and help in bringing down the cost, yet other countries are doing so.