November 15, 2019

 

Kenya's farmers self-produce livestock feed to lower costs

 

Farmers import cheaper feed ingredients and formulate their own livestock feed, reducing costs by up to 30%, reported Xinhua China.

 

Medium to large scale swine, dairy and poultry farmers import sunflower, cotton seed cake, fish and bone meal and corn germ from Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, as well as soy and fish meal primarily from China and India.

 

By becoming a self-sufficient feed producer, Collins Karanja, a poultry farmer from Nairobi said his costs have dropped 30%.

 

He said that the self-produced feed must contain nutrients including proteins (soybean), carbohydrates (corn or corn germ) and vitamins (mixed into the soybean and corn. He added that fish and bone meal are alternative protein sources that are costlier.

 

One kilogram of soybean costs 60 KES (~US$0.57). One kilogram of fish or bone meal costs US$1. On average, one 70kg bag of poultry feed costs US$25.

 

Karanja also attended training to learn how to produce livestock feed, and trains other farmers for a fee on how to mix feed for livestock at different growth stages.

 

On dairy farms, purchasing a bag of dairy feed in Kenya costs US$30 for 70kg.

 

Peter Odour, animal health specialist trained at Egerton University, said more dairy meal needs to be fed to cattle that produce more milk. He is currently in charge of formulating dairy meal for Osiligi Farm in Nairobi, which helps the facility reduce 40% in costs.

 

Using the farm's own drum mixer and other machines, Odour mixes dairy meal using soybean, sunflower cake and corn germ. 

 

However, he noted that there are farmers who have failed to formulate livestock feeds accurately, resulting in dead poultry or poultry that can't produce eggs.

 

The self-production of livestock feeds have also created a new business avenue for entrepreneur farmers – selling the self-produced feed to other farmers.

 

Joshua Kiboi, a farmer in Kiambu said he regularly purchases dairy meal from his neighbour at US$0.38 per kg, which has increased his dairy cattle's milk production.

 

-      Xinhua China