Dairy Farm Project Machakos

Milk is part of the core diet that most families in Kenya take every day – whether it is consumed directly or as part of another beverage such as tea. Although there are many farmers engaged in dairy farming, most do it at a very small scale. Apart from production, many people involved in distribution of dairy products are involved in shady practices like adulteration of milk and hiking of prices beyond normal levels.
Milk production is therefore a potentially lucrative venture especially when done from an agribusiness perspective – capitalizing on scalability and scientific farming practices. We have access to a piece of land measuring 10 acres with ready access to water and electricity located in Machakos County. My idea is to turn this land into a modern dairy farm.
I have hands-on experience having operated a farm before with five cows that used to produce around 70 liters of milk daily. In that farm, we had crossbreeds, so the production was less than expected from five cows. Even with the lower production rate, business was good with a very high demand for our produce. We used to sell a liter of milk at Ksh 50 and could not satisfy all the customers. With the Kathiani market in close proximity to the farm, we have an added advantage because access to feed supplements is easy. There are also farms that plant Boma Rhodes hay variety in the vicinity and in case of shortage, we can source it along Kangundo road from private sellers. It is a business with minimal competition in the area so chances of success are very high.

Project  Details

We hope that MavenCORE will help us acquire the core resources necessary to run a successful dairy farm in Kenya. These include the cows, a means of transport to bring in the feeds and take the milk to the market as well as the structures necessary to run a modern day farm. Our aim is to rear hybrid cows, each capable of producing at least 25 liters of milk per day. Since milk is a product that is always in demand even its raw form, we plan to sell directly to the retail market where a liter goes for over Ksh50, so our farm can rake in up to Ksh375,000 per month from milk sales. Apart from milk, we also plan to provide the manure from cows to local farmers as organic fertilizer. With industrial fertilizer prices always hiking, our organic manure will have a ready market in neighboring farms. A wheelbarrow of cow manure goes for Ksh50 and this would create an additional income of at least Ksh20, 000 every month. 

As you can see, our project is more than just a moneymaking venture because we’ll help people get high quality milk while farmers in the vicinity of the farm will get cheap fertilizer to boost their crop production. The project will also employ people like farm hands and drivers among others. 

From my previous experiences in dairy farming, the costs of doing business are minimal once the project is up and running. In this case, we expect the farm to incur around Ksh150,000 as costs every month which is a small fraction of the Ksh 375,000 monthly revenue. Therefore, the farm can remain profitable even during lean times and thus readily give back to MavenCORE so that other people with great vision can be funded.
Once we secure funding from MavenCORE, our vision in one year is to add ten cows so that we can employ more youths in our facilities.

Our mission is to be the leading milk provider in Machakos County and in the future, the entire Kenya. If the project can help spur the production of sufficient milk in our country, it will improve the lives of the youths it will employ. We can also provide a market for people engaged in other agricultural sectors such as hay production and even manufacturers dealing in animal feeds, supplements and other products.