Dairy farmers’ cooperatives in Kilifi County have also been trained by KCB Foundation on governance, leadership and management, business development and financial literacy, risk management and insurance, value addition, market development activities and collective bargaining.

KCB Foundation and Kilifi County Government have stepped up efforts to boost milk production in the county. KCB Foundation – the social investments arm of KCB Group – has partnered with Kilifi County Government to facilitate milk producers to commercialise the sector and ensure they retain maximum value of their produce by owning the value chain.

The Foundation on Thursday 28 February 2018, awarded discounted loans worth Ksh 1.8 million to Chonyi Dairy Farmers Co-Operative Society and Ksh 2 million to Ukulima Bora Dairy Farmers Co-operative Society to purchase 26 dairy cows. Three other co-operative societies in the county; Zowerani, Kilifi Bee Keepers and Pwani Dairy have so far benefited from the discounted loans of about Ksh 7 million, bringing the total to Ksh 11 million.

KCB Foundation Executive Director Jane Mwangi said the livestock economy remains largely informal, lowly productive, underdeveloped and hardly attracts investments despite being a major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

She said erratic weather patterns and low quality livestock had greatly hampered milk production in Kilifi County and affirmed the Foundation’s commitment to assist farmers in mitigating the challenges.

“Kilifi County, being a semi-arid area, faces dire milk shortage with the price of milk being higher than in other counties that have enough rainfall. It is against this background that KCB Foundation through our livestock value chain programme Mifugo Ni Mali and Kilifi County Government have come together to address this challenge,” she said in a speech read on her behalf by the Foundation’s Head of Programmmes Rachel Gathoni.

She underscored the critical role of cooperative societies in improving milk production in the County.

“We have partnered with the County Government to mobilise livestock value chain actors into effective cooperatives where we train them on governance, leadership and management, business development and financial literacy, risk  management and insurance, value addition and market  development activities and collective bargaining,” said the Executive Director.

Kilifi County Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi commended the KCB Foundation initiative, noting that it will support farmers’ co-operatives in realising maximum returns through collective market access.

He said the move would protect the farmers from middlemen who have been exploiting farmers through poor prices.

“I urge the youth in this county to embrace dairy farming and join groups as KCB Foundation has made it possible to access finance and relevant business training that will boost productivity,” he said.

He affirmed the county’s commitment to revive the dairy sector by providing infrastructural support to small scale dairy farmers as well as promoting the formation of dairy cooperative movements in the county for farmers to benefit from the partnership with KCB Foundation.

KCB Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kilifi County Government in 2016 to develop a profitable, sustainable livestock economy by offering discounted loans to livestock keepers in the meat, dairy and fish value chains from the County.

Under the partnership, KCB Foundation has committed Ksh 30 million towards discounted loans to livestock keepers and training of ranchers and cooperative societies in the dairy, meat and fish value chains. The Kilifi County Government has invested Ksh 40 million to provide technical and infrastructure support to the programme.