From Pastoralism to Dairy Farming

A project under Greater Kilimanjaro initiatives

Julius Muriuki, ACC

November 14, 2019

Project Area Location

Welcome to Naropil Dairy women cooperative

Milk culturally for the Maa community is a women issue. The idea of ensuring milk is properly collected and processed to the market is an empowerment of women and youth in the whole of Kajiado South Sub-county. The Naropil Women cooperative comprises of about 400 local maasai women, who came up with the idea of forming the group that evetually got registered. The cooperative is located in Kimana centre, south of Kajiado county. The whole village is involved in milk production and the registered 400 members are the first to deliver their milk to the cooperative society.

The main idea is to centrally collect milk, store and sell it to prospective partners and clients. In the process members earn money from milk sales, generating profits which are shared out as dividends at the end of every year. Members continue to benefit from training and skills improvement on the best cattle breeds, diseases control, grass growing and storage.There is evidence of achievements with African Conservation Centre (ACC) an indicator that the community members are ready develop more and have been adequately mobilized and sensitized.

Community group training by ACC

Project Highlights

Project comprises of a community women group in Kimana, Amboseli
The cooperative has a membership of a bout 400 registered women
They practice dairy farming for milk production
The women sell their milk at the local centers, with plans of selling to new KCC
The cooperative is organised in seven clusters representing areas that produce milk in the areas.
The area is hit hard by drought, causing massive livestock movement and a drop-in milk production and eventually low supplies to the cooperative.

Achievements

The group has acquired a milk dispensing machine that also refrigerates the commodity, preserving it for longer, as they sell.

The cooperative milk ATM located at Kimana centre

Through support from ACC, the milk main collection centre at Kimana has been equiped with a 5000 litres cooler, main power installed and a standby generator bought to ensure continous preservation and storage of milk incase of power outgates.
The group has been trained on milk handling and hygiene to enable sale of clean milk to customers.

Coop members undergoing training on milk handling

Going forward

Members still require training on growing grass and storage mechanisms to sustain the cows during dry seasons. This is on-going as African Conservation Centre (ACC) has started piloting reseeding with few members as training ground for entire membership.
Handling the market, pricing and the shifting competion is another area of focus for continuous training. This will expose the members and make them gain necessary skills to continue being competitive in the milk business.
Establishment of grass banks to ensure continous supply of fodder, especially during droughts. ACC has come up with rangelands reseeding projects in various group ranches to enhance fodder production for continous milk supply.
ACC together with partners has been preparing management plans for conservancies and group ranches to ensure sustainable utilization of natural resources available.The plans come with clear zonation of the available land especially grazing land, ensuring balanced grazing patterns. An example is the Rombo group ranch and conservancy plans that shall be launched later this year.

Partners and related project activities

The Naropil cooperative project has been implemented in collaboration with various partners including;

Women groups from Rombo, Imbirikani,Kimana and Olgulului group ranches
Amboseli Ecosystem Trust
County Government of Kajiado

Other activities

The women are involved in beadwork to supplement the income they get from milk sales.