Improving livelihoods in Kenya with Tetra Laval Food for Development

Through the tried and tested Dairy Hub model, Food for Development, Tetra Pak, DeLaval and partners collaborated to help 30,000 smallholder farmers increase dairy productivity and income, whilst at the same time involve more women and young people in the dairy value chain.

In Kenya, smallholder farmers produce nearly 80 percent of all milk, but have traditionally been challenged by a lack of infrastructure and experience. This has led to a lack of access to safe and nutritious food. To help improve this, the Kenya Market-Led Dairy Value Chain Supply project (KEMDAP) was created, a four-year project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) with implementation handled by Heifer International.

Nkosi Mkhize, DeLaval Market Development Manager for East Africa collaborated with Lynda McDonald, Project Manager, Dairy Development, Tetra Laval Food for Development on this project. It was the first collaboration for Lynda and Nkosi, but they had known each other for many years.

Joel Kilonzo, Account Manager Tetra Pak East Africa, Nkosi Mkhize,
DeLaval Market Development Manager for East Africa and Lynda McDonald,
Project Manager, Dairy Development, Tetra Laval Food for Development

“In the Food for Development team we work directly with Extension Officers, a team of locals who are focused on providing extension services and knowledge to the smallholder farming community. We provide the Extension Officers with technology and hands-on training, and they then cascade this knowledge. In the KEMDAP project, we worked with a reference farm methodology, working closely with carefully selected farmers because they are people who are open to change and have the potential to inspire those around them. We implement best practices and improvements on the selected reference farms, and these farms are then used to inspire the surrounding farming communities through farm discussion groups and demonstration days,” Lynda McDonald explains.

During the KEMDAP project (2017-2021) the total milk production of the 30,000 smallholder farms increased by 65% from the baseline of 5.43 litres per cow per day to 8.95 litres per cow/day overall.  In the reference farm sub-project where 9 extension advisors worked closely with 9 farmers to implement best practices during a concentrated 12-month period, the focus resulted in a 52% increase of total milk production and a 65% increase in milk production per cow. With the average number of cows having stayed the same, the increase in numbers can be attributed to improved practices and management. The average farm income for the reference farms in the project increased 96% during a 12-month period. These results show that with dedicated focus and resources, results can be achieved faster, and impacts can be greater.

This project was the start of a good collaboration between Food for Development, Tetra Pak and DeLaval.

“Now it is easier for us to find areas where we can collaborate. We have fun too, it’s not just about work, we really respect and care about each other,” Nkosi concludes.

There is a new project outside Nairobi, The Fresha project, with 11,500 farmers and 22 reference farms just starting and the team is already working together to get good results also here.

Most of the farm support and communication is done via WhatsApp but they also provide online training and webinars plus on-site visits. Lynda does the training and implementation and works with the extension officers who then train the farmers. Many of the conversations throughout the project are about the emotion of change. The model used for discussions revolves around what needs to be changed, why it is important from the animal’s point of view and why it is important from a farmer profitability point of view. The “how” of the change is always different for different farms.