Kenya dairy farmers set to benefit from low interest financing from UKaid to help boost productivity

Smallholder dairy farms in Ngorika, Nyandarua County are being supported by UKaid with low interest financing to help increase dairy productivity.

The UK in Kenya Facebook page have highlighted the case of one dairy farmer who has benefitted from this scheme.

Kagwe and his family had been delivering milk to the New Ngorika Dairy, when in early 2015, he and his family joined the UK aid-funded Inuka/Finance Innovation for Climate Change Fund (FICCF) dairy partnership, hoping to improve their farm’s dairy productivity.

Before joining the UKaid funded scheme, they struggled to access cheaper credit with flexible repayment options. Their situation was worsened by low yields and their inability to make dairy investments such as pasture establishment and shed construction on their farm.

Through the Inuka/ FICCF initiative they were able to acquire a loan which was used to purchase two Friesian heifers.

As the loan he has been provided with is flexible, it is better than those he had previously had access to because he is sure of returns through his constant supply of milk to the New Ngorika Dairy from which monthly deductions towards loan repayment can be made on proceeds from their milk delivery.

With the new cows, the farm’s monthly income has increased to over Kshs 30,000 from the previous Kshs 18,000 which was not enough for them to sufficiently invest on their farm.

Besides milk production, Kagwe has also constructed a zero-grazing shed and bought a chaff cutter to process livestock feeds.

The proceeds of the project have enabled him educate his grandchild at a local University and established an oat and sorghum pasture fields for their dairy animals.

Future plans include setting-up a biogas generator to make use of the immense animal refuse at their farm and also sink a borehole to address perennial water shortages in the area.