Eadd news volume 8

East Africa Dairy Development News Volume 8 Youth in Dairy farming 1

September - December 2011 Volume 8

Youth in Dairy Farming

East Africa Dairy Development News Volume 8Youth in Dairy farming2

I start by dedicating this issue to you, African youth who feel frustrated because you cannot find something meaningful to do to earn an income. No, I am not offering a job or any other easy fix solution here. What I attempt to do is to show you that not all is lost, as there is an untapped area, which many of us have neglected. It is very possible you have also neglected it. I am talking about Agriculture.

Before you flip over to the next page, please hear me out. Did you know that our continent faces a food crisis because we youth continue to ignore farming in search of the ‘easy’ life that comes with city jobs? Let me put it another way. In my village, frail, old persons, cheeks sunken from undernourishment and clothes barely covering their bodies, backs stiffened by long hours of toiling in farms, mark the general pro-file of food producers. I’m sure this is the sce-nario in your village, and most parts of Africa.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reports that the average age of a farmer

in Africa is 60 years. Now you realize I am not exaggerating facts to grab your attention. I believe you know that demographic trends show that youth dominate the continent’s population, with approximately 70 percent of its one billion people aged below 30 years. Now you must ask yourself, where are all these youth?

The youth in my village are in a cutthroat competition for white-collar jobs and a city-based life, having shunned rural life and farming. I am sure you have witnessed that too. Today, African cities are overflowing with energetic youth roaming streets, seeking un-available employment opportunities, with spillovers wandering into dingy corners where they engage in crime to earn a coin or two. Sadly, youth remain reluctant to engage in agriculture-based livelihoods that they view as non-profitable.

Why do most youth believe the answer to a blissful future lies in employment in the city, and not in agriculture (after all if they put their energies in farming they would also solve Africa’s looming food crisis)? Studies show that we youth not only turn from agriculture because of poor economic returns and lack of access to factors of production, but also because of an influence of status and social norms. Would an agricultural de-velopment program that addresses these key challenges make a difference? Perhaps. I believe that a program that identifies the types and forms of agricultural activities that youth desire would increase economic benefits of agriculture, and enhance the social status and privilege of youth in the sector.

In other words, with workable interventions, urban devel-opment need not be detrimental to rural development, and in this case, agriculture. Meaningful long-term development can be actualized with youth-oriented agricultural approaches. Meaning, African governments ought to address the genera-tional gap that exists in agriculture with appropriate policies.

urban development need not be detrimental

to rural development,

and in this case,

agriculture

EDITORIAL:

Revisiting the Debate:

Are Young People Inspired to Earn Through Livestock Raising?


This calls for confronting the assumptions that: :

► agriculture has the potential to provide young people in rural areas with reasonable livelihood and opportunities for accumulation;

► young people working in agriculture would boost the agricultural sector, rural economy and employment op-portunities for other youth; and

► that to be effective, agricultural development programs must specifically target young people.

As a player in agricultural development, East Africa Dairy Development project is perhaps the first project to confront the assumptions by employing a business approach in the dairy sub-sector. This has led to the creation of numerous opportu-nities for youth. The project does not restrict young people to their traditional role of only participating in dairy production, but opens up opportunities for the youth to participate in the provision of advisory services, leadership and management of business associations, as well as involvement in various nodes of dairy industry.

You will find in the pages of this newsletter, highlights of the extent to which youth have participated in EADD’s pro-gram. I hope you will learn from these inspiring case stories how young people can create opportunities when actively in-volved in agriculture, and allowed to bring a different perspec-tive that strengthens our efforts in reducing rural poverty and promoting rural development.

Gerald Mutinda, Regional Manager Dairy Productivity, Gender & Youth

ContentsFEATURE

New Kid on the Farming Block 4

RWANDA

An Extension Worker Who Leads by Example 6

UGANDA

Youth on the Steering Wheel 7

TANZANIA

Graduate Youth Excelling in Dairy Processing 8

KENYA

“Rural Life is the Best” Dairy Farmer Asserts 9

FOCUS ON EADD 2

Scaling Up and Out: 10

11 Eadd Kenya UPDATES12 EADD Uganda Updates12 EADD Rwanda Updates

Progress of Youth in Dairy Farming 14

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He first caught the eye of the Kenya public during the Brookside Breeders Show 2011. A fresh faced young IT specialist who had tak-en the plunge into dairy farming and defied all odds to make sev-eral hundreds of thousands of Kenyan shillings from it each month. Since then, Douglas Kanja, who recently turned 27, has held several media interviews leaving a trail of re-ignited dreams and renewed hope in an industry whose future – pundits’ claim- looks bleak in Kenya; because young people have denied it their attention.

New Kid on the

Farming Block

FEATURE


The “new face of a farmer” is what Alice Makochie’ng,

EADD 2 Mobilization Manager, baptized Douglas Kanja,

on meeting him. The title befits him, for Kanja redefines

the image of a farmer and shatters the picture Kenyans have

painted for a long time. In place of the lagged, resigned, retired,

old look many people associate with farmers, Kanja presents

young, smart, vibrant, cool, confident and successful. In place

of gumboots are highly polished shoes, and the overall farmer’s

wear has been replaced by a well-cut fitting suit. With an ipad

and IT credentials to boot, Kanja the farmer is also a comp

whizz kid.

Car out, Cows in Sometimes, all it takes to ignite a fire and a passion in a person is a simple walk through the woods, reading a book or words in a song. For Kanja, all it took to begin a journey in dairy farm-ing was an IT assignment in Naivasha. As fate had it, his cli-ent’s neighbor kept dairy cattle. As, “a lover of animals since childhood,” the farm re-ignited in him a desire to keep cattle. At around that time, Kanja had saved just enough money to purchase his dream car. He put the car dream on hold and decided to embark on a journey that would change his life and catapult him to unexpected national fame and symbol of in-spiration.

“After the assignment, I visited Kenya Agricultural Research

Institute (KARI) to find out more about dairy farming. They gave

me a list of farms that I could visit and learn more. I ended up

visiting 64 farms across the country. By the time I completed the

visits, I was convinced that I wanted to do dairy farming. With

my savings, I bought three cows in 2008.” He put up the cows

in a portion of his family’s 20-acre land in Kimende along the

Nairobi-Naivasha highway. Today his herd is growing past the

one hundred mark, 35 of which he is milking and supplying at

least 500 liters of milk to Brookside Company at KES 27 to KES

30 a liter daily. He estimates that 60-65 percent of his income

covers production costs and the rest is profit.

Kanja reflects on his journey and recalls the challenges that

an ordinary dairy farmer faces. “I was new to dairy farming and

management was a big issue which was made complex by the

fact that there is scanty information on dairy production in Ke-

nya. I also faced an inadequate supply of feeds and veterinary

services were hard to come by. Once I started producing milk

there was the challenge of markets.” To overcome the challeng-

es, Kanja states that he decided to use a “hands on” approach

to manage his farm, as opposed to “phone farming” where the

farmer monitors his farm by making frequent phone calls to

farm managers.

This sees him waking up by 4am to visit the farm for a brief-

ing and meeting with the workers before reporting to his 8am

job in Nairobi. He also holds a monthly meeting with his eight

farm attendants to monitor progress. “They record reports on

each cow every day, and give it to me for entry in our computer

system which automatically generates a weekly report on Sun-

day. So as a new week begins, we know what to monitor; like

expected births, estru (heat), any illnesses, expected milk produc-

tion.” To ensure he has enough feed, he uses the out grower

system, where his neighbors grow foliage which he buys in ad-

dition to processing his own feeds at another portion of the

land. “This way, I have minimum costs and my neighbors have

a market for their foliage. It is a win-win situation,” he states.

He has also learned how to maintain optimum feeding to in-

crease production from his herd. For example, he makes his

own dairy meal feed at the farm using a variety of products like

maize stalks, maize seeds, wheat, lucern, alfafa, and sunflower

seeds. It costs him KES1600 to make a 70kg sack of dairy meal,

while the same retails around KES 2400-2700.

He acknowledges that marketing remains a challenge for

many farmers; and notes that he is fortunate a signed contract

to supply to Brookside has freed him from worrying about

marketing and he can instead concentrate on production. In

the future however, and with accumulated savings, Douglas

hopes to start a processing firm, “I draw inspiration from pro-

cessors like Githunguri, they did it and so can I; so can many

other farmers if they are mentored.” Kanja hopes to grow his

herd internally to over 1000 heifers in the next five to ten years

and at the same time improve their quality. To achieve this, he

uses sexed semen (meaning?), which increases the probability

of heifer birth by 90 percent, “I have no business with bulls,” he

laughs. He has also put measures in place to reduce calf mor-

tality rate, “I have segmented the calf years from 0-3, 3-6, and

6-12 months and care for each stage differently. Out of 20 calves

birthed in the farm I lose one.”

Technology is the present, and Douglas intends to incorpo-

rate it in his farm management. “I monitor all the farm activities

through my computer using software specifically developed to

keep production and health records of all cows in such a way

that I can forecast production and tell when a problem is about

to occur before it occurs. I hope to use IT to increase efficiency in

management of the farm and reduce on production costs. We

are already coming up with a surveillance system –something

like CCTC- to monitor all aspects of the farm. It’s a journey.” He

encourages youth to view dairy farming as a business venture,

because there is growth and opportunity.


By Jacqueline Kayitesi

Fred Muwanda, 30, knows very well the power of coach-ing to transform lives. For the past three years, Fred has worked primarily on dairy farming as an extension worker and trainer of trainers through EADD. He credits EADD as having given him a platform to network with farmers and other stakeholders and today boasts an agro-vet shop in his hometown and recently enrolled in a veterinary college.

We met Fred in his busy agro-vet shop in Kiramuruzi, a small town located in eastern Rwanda, an hour’s drive from the capital Kigali. As a trainer of trainers and extension worker, he empowers farmers to become self-suf-ficient and help their societies in not only milk production but also economic growth. “My area of coverage is four sectors and I service over 800 cows per year.”

According to the EADD breeding team, Fred has reg-istered an artificial insemination (AI) success rate of 68-74 percent since he started actively serving farmers in 2010. Underscoring the importance of his work and business, he reminisces back to seven years ago, when he first arrived in

the area. “Farmers would use one bull for about 20 cows or more, and that made it difficult to control diseases and of course this system was not productive. EADD has contributed a lot in dairy farming systems in this area. As a service provider, I have good income and other farmers have increased their incomes too.” Asked if he would consider closing shop and chang-ing jobs, Fred quickly says, “No, no, no, I like this job because I can do my business and also serve farmers.”

Not all has been rosy for Fred though. Following ethnic friction in Rwanda in 1959, Fred’s parents sought asylum in Uganda where he grew up and attended school. Perhaps owing to adverse circumstances, they never returned to Rwanda. Not Fred. On completing college in 2003, “I just

found myself back home in my country,” says the soft-spo-ken father of two. His return was full of uncertainty.

Fred’s first job as a farm manager earned him 60,000 francs ($95) per month. In 2008, EADD interventions be-gun in his area and it was a fortunate break for Fred because he already knew what it took to keep a farm running and look after animals. He resigned from his job, signed up with the program as an extension worker and received training in animal health and AI services. Fred made a commitment to visit farmers in their farms every day. “I spend most of the time in the field ensuring animal health, AI, and train-ing farmers on how to manage their farms.” On seeing the potential in dairy he established an agro-vet business which has grown from making a profit of USD 82 to USD 150 per month. These profits present a valuable sum by the stan-dards of the quiet town.

“Meeting with farmers that benefit is a way of advertising my agrovet business. I have three competitors in town but am able to make 150,000 Francs (USD 150) as profit from the shop alone. Through the cooperative, I have met many farmers living in urban areas and sometimes they hire me to supervise their farms in the village since they know EADD has trained me. I have saved enough to go back to school to pursue a diploma in veterinary services. In addition to that, I also have some investments,” Fred confides with a smile. “I bought a plot of land and a house. I am hoping that we, young people, will work towards reviving the economy.”

Jacqueline Kayitesi is a Communication and M&E Officer at EADD Rwanda .

An Extension Worker Who Leads by Example

I am hoping that we, young

people, will work towards

reviving the economy

RWANDA

www.eadairy.org

www.eadairy.org

www.eadairy.org


By Brian Kawuma

By the age of 17, Sam Kajimba already played the role of bread-winner for his family. Today he is out and about his transport business in Kiboga West Cooperative Society in central Ugan-da by dawn. His father’s death in 2008 forced him to drop out of senior three in secondary school and take on the role of breadwinner for his mother and five siblings.

Four years later today, Sam reflects, “I felt stuck. Dad did not leave us any property, I had to find a job,” he adds. Sam resorted to vending milk. Every day he would start an 18-mile journey to collect milk from dairy farmers in Kyankwanzi for sale in Lubiri trading center, several kilometers away. He would sell an average of 80 liters a day, making a profit of 50 Uganda shillings from each liter. As business thrived, Sam hired a bicycle at a small fee to help in building the volume of milk he trans-ported, thereby increasing his income. He also struck an agree-ment with farmers that he would sell their milk for five out of seven days a week and keep the proceeds from milk collected over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) as compensation for transport and labor. The proceeds from this arrangement helped in accumulating his first savings.

Change in FortunesIn 2008, EADD started implementation in Kyankwanzi and mo-bilized smallholder dairy farmers, sensitizing them about differ-ent aspects of dairy farming. At this time, the farmers experi-enced several challenges like low milk yields, unreliable markets, poor milk prices and delayed pay. Naturally, they embraced the idea of a registered cooperative where they would collectively bulk and market their milk, in addition to benefiting from ex-tension services that would increase their dairy yields. How-ever, a different thing attracted Sam; the op-portunity to grow his transport business through projected increased milk yields. He figured out that to do so successfully, he would become a

shareholder in the cooperative as that would authenticate his business and introduce him to potential clients.

Soon after the new project, Sam started collecting more milk from his “clients” as their farm yields increased. His portfolio also grew as new farmers joined the industry. By early 2009, he collected and vended 140 liters of milk daily. “I was overwhelmed. There was so much milk in different places, I subcontracted cyclists who would transport milk on my behalf,” he recalls. He paid the cyclists UGX. 60,000 (USD 30) monthly. Sam eventually bought his own bicycles and hired three permanent staff. As business grew, he bought a motorcycle that would enable him transport larger volumes of milk more effectively and efficiently.

For the industrious youth, milk transport is only the beginning of actualizing his dreams. Through the proceeds, he has started to di-versify his income by buying bulls for fattening and resale. In 2010, he bought his first batch of 15 bulls that he fed for over 9 months. He later sold them and bought 30 bull calves; two for the value of each bull he had sold. Sam says his biggest joy comes from af-fording school fees for his siblings. He hopes to build a house and buy a pick-up truck to ferry more milk.

Brian Kawuma is a Communication Officer at EADD Uganda

Youth on the Steering Wheel

UGANDA

By early 2009, Sam collected and vended 140 litres of milk daily

www.eadairy.org

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By Alice Mako’chieng

Three Tanzanian youth are making it big in dairy farming. The trio, who live in Morogoro region, are led by Victor Mfinanga the Managing Director of Shambani Graduates Ltd. They start-ed the enterprise that is trailblazing in youth and entrepreneur-ship in dairy farming, in 2006. It is a breath of fresh air in a sector often characterized by older people.

The graduate of Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agricul-ture (SUA) decided against moving to the city to swell the

ranks of unemployment. They instead settled for using their newly found skills to invest and improve dairy farming in their locality. Today the company not only collects and sells milk from farmers, but also produces yoghurt made of natural fruit flavors like passion, strawberry and banana. They market their products as far as Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.

Major Highlights:1. From an intake of only 30 liters in 2006, the firm

currently processes 1,100 liters per day, and has a capacity to process up to 4,000 liters.

2. The farm has three milk collection centers, serviced by Maasai farmers around Morogoro region. As with Maasai culture, milk is mainly the domain of women but due to the steady income the women have been getting from the busi-ness, and seeing the improvement in their families’ livelihoods, men are also turning to dairy keeping.

3. The farm’s major challenge is the oscillating milk supply, falling as low as four times the supply during high season. Because of this unpredictable supply and farmers’

inability to cope with the dry season - between August and October - the company has found it difficult to supply their customers. This hampers their efforts to expand.

4. Lack of understanding about the dairy business and milk collection by the pastoralist farmers negatively affects consistency in supply and quality improvement. As a result, the company has resorted to organizing and undertaking con-stant training and extension work. This has stretched its focus from its core business of processing and marketing.

5. The youthful farmers would also like a simple in-novative information system that can help small processors manage their supply chain efficiently as well as map a better route to market their products.

6. The farm aspires to expanding into the Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) business that does not require a cold chain. This kind of business suits the local environment in Tanzania where refrigeration in many stores and homes in a huge chal-lenge.

Indeed the key to mobilizing productivity in agribusiness is to create a strong value proposition to attract young people back to the land by providing support and other business en-ablers. Above all, it requires sheer guts to just do it and make it happen. For now, the three farmers are a tremendous inspira-tion to other young people, not only in Tanzania, but also in the entire region.

Alice Mako’chieng is the Regional Project Mobilization Manager, EADD Regional Office

Graduate Youth Excelling in Dairy Processing

It requires sheer guts to just do it

and make it happen

TANZANIA

www.eadairy.org

www.eadairy.org

www.eadairy.org


By Ann Mbiruru

This youthful urban to rural migrant “wishes” he had known that “rural life is the best.”

Back to the Roots many youth, urban life is fashionable. It promises greater opportunity. Riches-sans back breaking work, right? Wrong! Paul Kimani disagrees. Caught by the media hype, Paul relocated in the 1990s, from his rural home in Olka-lau, a district in Kenya’s Central Province, to Mombasa, the Ke-nyan coastal town. To his shock, there was no easy well paying job waiting for him. To make ends meet, he resorted to selling scrap metal, to “fill in the joblessness gap” before he landed his “dream job. Life was expensive and hard. I spent all my income paying for food, rent and transport. I had no savings,” he says.

The big job never came. By the 15th year, he went back home, a prodigal son with nothing to show from his sojourns in the city. Today Paul tells a different story. In his three acre farm,he tends to fodder and mixed food crop, and waters the cows every other hour. By evening, his wife and three children join him in milking, with 10 liters being the lowest he expects from each of his two Friesian cows. His income has risen five-fold from KES 3,000 ($32.--) to KES 15,000 (approx $161).

He remembers vividly the day he moved back to Olkalau in 2008. “I did not know what I would do, but I knew I had bet-ter prospects at home.” EADD started implementation in Ol-kalau around the same time. After the team visited his village for mobilization, Paul was convinced to give dairy farming a chance, even though he was skeptical, as he had witnessed his dad practice it for many years without much results. He signed up as a member at the Olkalau Dairy Farmer Business Associa-tion where he would supply milk.

When Paul first heard of artificial insemination and the op-portunity it presented in improving his breed, he immediately bought the idea. Today he boasts two heifers and hopes to grow his herd to a number that he can sell to other farmers. His milk production is higher than what his father ever witnessed,

and he easily accesses the market through the farmers business association. He credits this to EADD experts from whom he says he learned optimum feeding to increase production from his herd, as well as growing his own foliage that remarkably re-duces his cost of production.

“Father barely milked 5 liters of milk per day from three cows and had no access to markets. The roads were impassable and getting to the shopping center to sell milk would take a whole day. Then we only fed cows on Napier grass, but today I grow my own lucern, desmodium and alfafa that when consumed by the cows, increases their milk production. EADD has changed the shape of dairy farming in this area. Because of the farmer association, there are businesspersons who specialize in collecting and transporting milk for farmers. This saves us time and we concentrate on production. We now have a chance to increase our incomes and there is no turning back.”

Four years on, Paul has never regretted his decision. He receives payment for his milk in time. Being part of the farmer group comes with other freebies as its MOU with a local bank, Eq-uity, has enabled him to take a loan to expand his farm. Paul believes that, “Milk production is increasing because farmers have access to more information about dairy farming, access to extension services, and ability to negoti-ate for better prices as a group. I do not mind if my children decide to become farmers because I now know you can make profits from it.”

“Rural Life is the Best” Dairy Farmer Asserts

I do not mind if my children decide to practice farming because I now know you can make money from it

KENYA

www.eadairy.org


FOCUS ON EADD 2

The East African Dairy Development (EADD) project is a 10-year dairy industry development initiative funded by

the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, targeting smallholder dairy farmers in East Africa. The project, implemented by a consortium of partners is led by Heifer International and in-cludes ILRI, TechnoServe, ICRAF and ABS-TCM.

A four-year pilot (2008-2012) was implemented in se-lected districts of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Results from a mid-term evaluation show that the project achieved most of its milestones. As a result, Bill and Melinda Gates Founda-tion expressed an interest to continue supporting the project into phase 2, popularly known as EADD 2. This new phase may commence in mid 2013, and would see the project scaling up and intensifying activities in the existing countries, as well as scaling out in to two new countries: Ethiopia and Tanzania.

In preparation for the scaling up and out, earnest stake-holder consultations and fact-finding missions have been on-going across the five countries. EADD Regional Director, Mo-ses Nyabila, and Regional Project Mobilization Manager, Alice Makochien’g, lead the missions. EADD 2 will not be a new proj-ect but a continuation of EADD 1, with more emphasis in key learning and building partnerships. EADD 2 strongly believes that, creating strong sustainable partnerships with key partners in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach is the way to transform the dairy industry in the countries of operation.

Moses explains that, “We are embarking on this pro-cess of building partnership early. Beginning from pro-posal development stage so that the resultant

project has a broad stakeholder buy-in from the word go, with more

partners willing to take their fair share

and work-ing with us in proj-ect devel-opment, co-

funding and implementation. This is mainly as a result of the project’s track record and the goodwill the farmers have cre-ated in the market.” Given the gains made in EADD 1, the scal-ing up and out of EADD 2 anticipates that an additional 500 000-farmer families may benefit from EADD interventions in dairy farming.

This inclusive approach puts sustainability at the core of EADD’s work in building business models from the farmer-up that are more sustainable and impacting for many beneficia-ries.

Sustainability and Impact are the twin words

EADD 2 will continue to create and build farmer businesses centered on the Hub Model to connect more small-scale dairy farmers to markets. Building hubs that can endure changing social economical and political climates entails identifying and working with key actors in the dairy value chain.

The vision of EADD remains developmental. As such, sus-tainability of hubs is important. To achieve this, EADD works with the boards and management of hubs in strengthening and anchoring them on robust commercial principles.

Scaling Up and Out:Creating Sustainable Business Models


EADD KENYA UPDATES

EADD Kenya, in the Rift Valley

Province, celebrated growth in the

activities of farms that are in the pro-

gram. In October, Tanykina Dairy Plant

Limited not only moved from rental

premises to its own newly constructed

building, but also made a bold move to-

wards improving the quality of its milk

by banning the use of plastic contain-

ers and introducing aluminium cans.

Kenya’s Minister for Livestock Devel-

opment, Dr. Abdi Kuti presided over

the relocation, accompanied by the

area MP, William Ruto, who launched

the Kipkarren Financial Services Asso-

ciation branch in Lemook. .

Elsewhere, Kabiyet Dairies

Company Limited purchased a 10,000

milk-tanker to improve the quality of

milk by maintaining the cold chain of

milk on transit from the chilling plant to

the processor. And Lelchego Com-

pany Limited reported an impressive

uptake of Artificial Insemination (AI).

Having received its first AI tank con-

taining 100 straws in September, a

high demand by farmers exhausted

the straws in three weeks. The compa-

ny that has 228 members also opened

financial services in August.

Kapcheno Dairies, also in the

province, started a new satellite

cooler located in Ndurio. In the same

quarter, farmers in the area initiated

the Mitigation of Climate Change in Ag-

riculture (MiCCA) project, and formed

the Kaptumo cluster, which brings

farmers together to bulk and increase

milk volumes, giving them an edge in

negotiating for better prices.

Still on milk production, milk vol-

umes increased in various sites, with

most farmer business associations op-

erating at over 100 percent capacity.

Tinderet Dairies reported collection

of 6,000kgs from Maraba and Koilot

sites; as compared to 1800kgs collect-

ed in the two sites at the same period

last year. Kipkellion Dairy Plant Lim-

ited reported a collection of 9,000kgs

per day as compared to 4,000kgs col-

lected per day in the second quarter.

Siongiroi dairy collected a volume of

50,000kgs and Sot dairy had a sur-

plus volume, handling over 12,000kgs

a day. This has enabled the DFBAs to

negotiate competitive prices with pro-

cessors on behalf of farmers, leading

to increased profitability for the chilling

plants. Chepkorio Dairy Company Lim-

ited consistently operated at over 153

percent capacity during the quarter.

At the same time, Sot dairy

opened three new agro-vets in vari-

ous locations in addition to a satellite

cooler at Longisa market center. The

move will enable members of the dairy

to access agro-vet advances. The sat-

ellite cooler will ensure that farmers in

far areas easily access milk collection

services. Estimates indicate the sat-

ellite cooler will collect an average of

1,400kgs of milk per day.

Lelan Highland Dairies suc-

cessfully lobbied the government to

undertake road repairs in the area;

while with the purchase of a 15,000-li-

tre milk tanker, Metkei Multipurpose

Limited improved the quality of milk

in the center. The bacteria load count

reduced from 12 million in May, to

570,000 in September.

Local level producer groups face several challenges in main-taining sustainable commercial based business. To counter this, the proposed EADD 2 plans to bring in more partners with di-verse skills each focused to resolve a given challenge. The part-ners will come from the private sector to manage expertise in the project that will benefit local communities through shar-ing responsibility and key learning between local communities, the government, donor partners and the private sector.

A shared responsibility of Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach will bring about lasting change. It is also a wake-up call for governments to stake up on investments in agribusi-ness, especially supporting small-scale producers. In the end, we all hope to transform the dairy sector in East Africa to take its rightful place as a key agricultural contributor to the Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) of the economies of the region.


EADD UGANDA UPDATES

EADD has continued to support

Uganda farmer business association

in development of annual operation-

al plans. 44 annual operation-planning

meetings with 1,520 participants drawn

from the associations leaders, commu-

nity mobilizers and extension providers

have so far taken place. All four clus-

ters participated in 28 farm-based field

days that trained farmers on mod-

ern day dairy farming. 2,700 farmers

participated.

Meanwhile, EADD initiated a

collaboration with Department of

Gender and Women Studies, MUK,

aimed at supporting EADD in gen-

der mainstreaming of its activities

for both staff and dairy farmers. The

Uganda office has also set up a gender

resource center that has various gen-

der resource materials.

A regional gender and youth

training workshop was conducted

in Jinja, Uganda, with 23 participants

from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. The

training aimed at equipping EADD Gen-

der working focal persons and team

leaders with skills of identifying and ad-

dressing youth and gender concerns. It

also focused on identifying opportuni-

ties that youth and women can exploit

in order to increase their participation in

dairy related activities from household,

community and chilling plant levels.

Key action plans developed included

training of field extension workers and

DFBA leaders, and supporting forma-

tion of youth groups and linking them

to various funding opportunities.

Elsewhere, EADD conducted

a youth entrepreneurship-train-

ing workshop, benefiting 168 youth

drawn from all the four clusters. 121

men and 47 women participated. The

training aimed to educate youth in

dairy farming in order to increase their

awareness and level of participation in

leadership and agri-business activities

at household, community and DFBA

levels. The workshop’s objectives in-

cluded: orienting youth participants on

dairy industry; dairy business chain op-

portunities; introducing the youth to the

concept of working in dairy groups and

under dairy cooperative societies; and

sharing practical experiences on the

dairy value chain.

Further, EADD Kicked off a

collaboration with SCC-Vi Agro

forestry, aimed at ramping up AI

technology uptake in nine sites of Sem-

babule and Mityana Districts. This will

result in over 1,000 farmers benefit-

ing from 3,000 AI service providers, AI

infrastructure, training in breeding, re-

cords and feeding, by December 2011.

The collaboration has led to more

farmers receiving farmer advisory ser-

vices on breeding.

Four DFBAs, two in Jinja, one

in Nakaseke and the last one in

Kayunga, were registered to le-

gally operate as co-operatives. And

EADD exhibited at the Annual Source

of the Nile Agricultural Trade Show

alongside Heifer International. The in-

novative exhibition won a trophy for

best exhibitor, livestock, and was third

runner up overall.

Finally, EADD Uganda project

staff participated in a two-day re-

treat (26 – 28 October 2011) at Silver

Springs Hotel, Bugolobi, Kampala. The

retreat doubled as a strategy and plan-

ning meeting, where the draft AOPB

(write in full) for the no-cost and cost

extension periods was developed.

EADD RWANDA UPDATES

EADD has continued to sup-

port Uganda farmer business

association in development of an-

nual operational plans. 44 annual

operation-planning meetings with

1,520 participants drawn from the

associations leaders, community mobi-

lizers and extension providers have so

far taken place. All four clusters partici-

pated in 28 farm-based field days that

trained farmers on modern day dairy

farming. 2,700 farmers participated.

Rwanda is experiencing a milk mar-

ket crisis since April 2011. The crisis

was caused by an increase in milk


production from 14,000 liters in April

to 38,000 liters in June, in the East-

ern Province. Access to markets and

enhanced interventions in dairy by

EADD, among other partners, has re-

sulted in the increase in production.

In June, Rwanda’s main processor,

Inyange, announced that 1.5 million lit-

ers of processed UHT milk lay unsold

in scattered warehouses in Kigali. As a

result the company scaled down milk

collection, from between 20-30,000

liters per day in quarter two to 8,000-

10,000 liters per week in quarter three.

This marks a 25 percent decrease in

farmer prices from 200 to 150 francs

per liter.

Following the milk market crisis,

the country’s new Prime Minister,

Pierre Damien Habumuremyi led a

high-powered delegation on a visit to

the Mbare and Kirebe chilling plants, as

well as the processor, Savanah, in a bid

to find a sustainable solution. He was

accompanied by various government

officials and Heifer International/ EADD

representatives.

The visit brought about the following

positive resolutions:

a. Inyange Industries will take over

Savannah plant in the Eastern

Province

b. As a result of the takeover, Inyange

will collect 33,000 liters per day

c. Various government ministries will

explore market opportunities to

Inyange

d. Ministries of Agriculture, and com-

merce, and the leadership in East-

ern Province, will collaboratively

draft policies that will ensure access

to market, water and electricity, in

order to stimulate development of

dairy farming.

Meanwhile, the technical staff

of milk processors, Savannah and

Inyange, visited New Kenya Co-

operative Creameries (NKCC) in

Kenya, accompanied by management

of Inyange and its parent Compa-

ny, Crystal Ventures. The processors

were exposed to best practices of set-

ting up an efficient milk supply chain,

appropriate packaging and market

segmentation.

EADD Rwanda participated in

a 10-day exhibition from 20 to 31

October 2011. All seven districts of

Eastern Province participated in the

exhibition attended by players in eco-

nomic and social sectors, and private

business. International exhibitors came

from neighboring countries in the East

African region, and as far as Pakistan.

EADD Rwanda exhibited with dem-

onstrations of Artificial Insemination

equipment, good milk quality practic-

es and high quality feed and fodder.

The project was awarded a certificate

of recognition.

EADD Rwanda has commis-

sioned a consumer market survey

that will end in mid January 2012. The

survey seeks to identify factors that af-

fect milk consumption. The results of

the survey will help identify key priority

areas for intervention.

Chilling Plants have aggressively

sought relationships with alternative

market traders. Matimba DFBA is par-

ticularly evaluating the opportunity to

reopen the cheese processing busi-

ness. The Nyagatare Dairy Farmers’

Union has been evaluating milk-mar-

keting options, and in quarter three,

the dairy farmers’ union visited Rusizi

District, a town bordering DR Congo,

for a possibility of installation a cold

room to hold milk targeting the market

in Bukavu town in DRC. Bukavu has

a population of approximately 4 mil-

lion people. Dialogue is ongoing with

the Rwanda Milk Traders Association,

a representative body of about 2,600

milk traders operating in Rwanda.

To strengthen sustainability pillars,

Rwanda country team has mobilized

chilling plants to set up DHES.

Most DFBAs in Rwanda cannot

afford to hire a DHES due to financial

constraints. To counter this challenge,

EADD has placed its contingency funds

to assist MCCs hire the DHES by meet-

ing 50 percent of the DHES salary for a

period of one year. To date, three sites:

Matimba, Gahengeri and Gasi, have

committed to raising the other 50 per-

cent of the DHES salaries, and have

been set as piloting sites.


Women youth constitute 12

percent of the overall

model farmers profiled by

EADD across the region

Table 1-EADD June 2011- Key Youth Performance Participation Data KE UG RW Overall

DMG, DFBA membership, Shareholding and Economic participation

% Of youth registered farmers in DFBAs 27 9 15 6 21 7

% youth farmers constituting CP shareholding 24 7 17 5 10 4 17 5

% of youth farmers constituting CP/TM active suppliers 21 9 47 15 18 5 29 10

% of Youth constituting Model farmers 22 7 13 3 0 0 12 4

% of youth hired in CPs/DFBAs 63 19 76 11 73 21 70 17

Participation in Leadership, decision making & management structures

% Youth composing Board of directors 9 4 24 3 15 4 16 4

% of youth in BODs trained & equipped with leadership skills 313 171 128 136 100 100 180 136

% of youth as Extension staff (AI, ESA, AHA, TOTs) 56 14 42 1 44 7 47 7

The dairy farmer business associations / cooperatives in the EADD consortium are making great progress in inclusion of youth in the businesses. As at the end of June 2011, there was an encouraging number of registered youth farmers in those associations. Kenya reported 27 percent and Uganda 15 per-cent of youth as being active as either members or sharehold-ers. However, the proportion of young women registering as

business association members was only 9 per-cent in Kenya and 6 percent in Uganda. Previ-ous findings from EADD base¬line survey and mid-term evaluation report showed that young women were less likely to participate in collec-tive action compared to young men.

The dairy farmer business associations / co-operatives in the EADD consortium are making great progress in inclusion of youth in the busi-nesses. As at the end of June 2011, there was an encouraging number of registered youth farm-ers in those associations. Kenya reported 27 per-

cent and Uganda 15 percent of youth as being active as either members or shareholders. However, the proportion of young women registering as business association members was only 9 percent in Kenya and 6 percent in Uganda. Previous findings from EADD baseline survey and mid-term evaluation report

showed that young women were less likely to participate in collective action compared to young men.

The participation of youth as shareholders was reported at 24 percent, 17 percent and 10 percent in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, respectively. The youth in Uganda represented 47 percent of active suppliers, 15 percent of them being young women. However, it is worthwhile to note that most milk transporters are also vendors, meaning they collect and supply milk on behalf of several farmers. In Kenya and Rwanda, youth participating as active suppliers constituted 21 percent and 18 percent respectively, with, again, young women making a low of 9 percent and 5 percent in Kenya and Rwanda respectively.

On average women youth constitute 12 percent of the overall model farmers profiled by EADD across the region. Of this, Kenya reports 22 percent (7 percent women) and Uganda 13 percent youth (3 percent women).

Employment opportunities in management, leadership, or extension services by the dairy hubs have attracted and benefited many young people. Most have at least secondary education and tertiary skills. Our reports indicate that youth make-up 70 percent of the business associations/cooperatives management payroll in all the countries of operation. The par-ticipation of young women in tapping these opportunities is

Progress of Youth in Dairy FarmingBy Alice Mako’chieng

www.eadairy.org


again low at an overall average of 17 per-cent. This means that for every 100 Chill-ing Plant/DFBA generated employment opportunities, youths will take up 70 with young women filling up 17 of the positions.

Participation in Leadership, decision-making and management structuresThe number of youth participating in DFBA boards has risen with an overall aver-age of 16 percent, where Uganda stands at 24 percent, Rwanda 15 percent and Kenya 9 percent. The total percentage of youth constituting front line exten¬sion workers stands at 47 percent, out of which women make up only 7 percent. Some of the rea-sons advanced for the low recruitment of women relate to low number of females taking up agricultural science courses, un-attractive conditions in the rural areas and the EADD/DFBA terms of engagement.


Imprint

East Africa Dairy Development Regional OfficeP.O Box 74388-00200, Nairobi, Nairobi [email protected]

www.eadairy.org

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EADDProject

Edited by: Ann Mbiruru

Contributors: Brian Kawuma, Gerald Mutinda, Jacqueline KayitesiAlice Makochieng Jane Kithuka

The East Africa Dairy Development project is a regional industry development program led by Heifer International in partnership with ILRI, TechnoServe, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the African Breeders Service Total Cattle Management (ABS-TCM). The project is being implemented in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

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