Comrade Dairy and Food enterprise (CDFE) - Enhancing milk quality through value addition

Research shows that about 80% of milk produced in Kenya is sold raw without any value addition. Njoro sub-county in Kenya is not an exception. It lacks adequate processing facilities. It has only one cooling plant in Njoro town. A huge amount of milk is therefore hawked around the county especially with people who have very little skills on milk quality assurance. Comrade Dairy and Food enterprise (CDFE) team identified lack of value addition in the dairy value chain in the sub-county as a business opportunity. In order to turn the opportunity into a real business venture, the enterprise was established as small-scale dairy processing plant capable of adding value to 250 liters of milk per day. This is in bid to help in bulking farmers’ milk, processing it and then marketing. Farmers are also trained on hygienic milking and animal husbandry so as to make efficient milk productivity. Increased milk productivity translates to high farmer income and consistent supply to the processing plant. The current product portfolio of the enterprise is yoghurt and maziwa-lala (sour or cultured milk) and we anticipate to produce kefir in the near future. These products are bottled and marketed under the name Prestige Fresh Yoghurt and Prestige Fresh maziwa lala. By diversification customers have variety to choose from and this avails important nutrients such as proteins and calcium in more palatable and available forms. The products can be taken by all the age groups including lactose intolerant people. This is because the product is fermented converting milk sugar (lactose) to lactic acid. The enterprise sources milk directly from farmers and this ensures that farmers are rewarded better for their milk as opposed to the exploiting brokers. Farmers benefit as well from the extension services and trainings carried out by the enterprise team.