16
African Dairy Outlook
DairyPost Africa • May 2014
Mavila Shows Brookside’s Nyongesa some of the dairy
inputs at their service store in Wumingu, Taita.
lament that sometimes they want to give
supplements, but accessibility to the feeds
was a challenge. Or they wanted to treat
their sick animals. Then Brookside brought
the idea of inputs on credit, and this has
taken us far.
“Now whenever we are in need of
feeds, dewormers or pesticides, all we
need is a Brookside Dairy milk supply
statement, which actually ascertains our
“creditworthiness.” The inputs are then
supplied and recovered from members’ milk
dues. It is a convenient way of managing our
herds.
“The other day, Brookside advised the
service providers to expand to household
consumables, and now members of my
group can get sugar or unga and the same is
recovered from the milk proceeds!
“Brookside Dairy has been central to our
growth. The company assures farmers of
A dairy farmer zooms off with a bag of animal feed from
Brookside Dairy’s Wumingu Plant, Taita Taveta County. Brookside has partnered with Maziwa Taita Dairy to supply farmers
with inputs on credit.
payments every month. They also collect
the agreed volumes of milk for 365 days in a
year, bad roads or not!
“Before Brookside came here, farmers would
sell their milk to hawkers and middlemen.
Exploitation was rife, and one wasn’t quite
sure how the market would behave. But
today, each morning we receive a Brookside
milk supply receipt, we are as good as paid.
“We are grateful to the company for it
has directly played a role in the growth of
Mwafuga Wumingu Dairy Group. This has
led to more money circulating in our county,
and poverty levels have substantially come
down.
“As a group, we want to move towards
the 10,000 kg of raw milk each day. This
is something that is achievable, and it will
mean our take-home package will be much
higher.”