Nestle in joint project to boost regional milk production
Workers receive milk at Brookside dairy. Multinational company Nestle has launched a project to boost production in East Africa Photo/FILE
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda dairy farmers are set to benefit from a joint Nestle Equatorial Africa and East Africa Dairy Development project which seeks to boost milk production in the region.
The partnership, launched in Nairobi recently, is the outcome of a 2009 needs assessment study conducted in Eldoret after which the two firms developed the plan to work together in order to close the quality gaps in milk production value chain.
“We agreed to set up a model milk village at Kabiyet in Nandi Hills in collaboration with the EADD, which other farming communities would be able to replicate,” Nestle’s Equatorial African regional head Pierre Trouilhat said.
Nestle Equatorial Africa, a subsidiary of Nestle Switzerland, was set up in 2008 to oversee the nutrition firm’s operations in 20 countries, including Kenya, Angola, Burundi, Comoros, DRC, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Malawi, RC, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
EADD, on the other hand, is a regional industry development programme implemented by a consortium of NGOs with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of an agricultural development grant to boost yields and incomes of small-scale farmers in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
With a membership of almost 200,000 farmers, EADD aims to transform households by doubling dairy income through integrated intervention in dairy production, market access and knowledge application.
“Our objective has been to help improve the livelihoods of the dairy farmers whom we work with across the region and they can only do so by producing high quality milk ready for the markets. Nestle is ready to provide both the expertise and the market, provided their quality standards are met,” EADD’s regional director Moses Nyabila said.
To further help EADD members gain more expertise and share best practices, Nestle has organised a trip to India for EADD members in May to showcase its “Model Milk District.”
The project further aims to provide market access to Kenya’s dairy farmers through the purchase of powdered milk, thereby enabling Nestle to produce full cream powder which is then exported to other Comesa countries, a practice which is meant to result in increased availability and affordability of dairy products in Equatorial Africa.
The project also aims to ensure regular milk supply to factories, address consumer preferences and expectations on product safety and quality and further support sustainable agriculture and sourcing practices.
It is part of the company’s direct ‘fresh milk sourcing’ initiative which currently operates in 30 countries through a network of almost 700 sourcing specialists, bringing in about 700 million tonnes of milk per year to the company.
The partnership comes as a welcome relief to Kenya’s dairy farmers as the country has in the past few months seen milk production increase by 30 per cent, exposing the industry’s lack of sufficient capacity in storage and processing.
