By MN Reporter

Migori farmers have been asked to invest more in dairy farming as milk deficit has hit county with imports from Tanzania.

Agriculture executive Valentine Ogongo aid currently the milk being produced in Migori will not sustain demand.

He said Migori produces 25 million liters of milk annually, which is way lower than its demand of 88 million liters per year.

“Because of the shortage, the county is forced to import 10 per cent of milk from the bordering Tanzania,” he said.

The county also gets 20 per cent of its milk from Trans Mara, Nandi and Homa Bay counties.

He said increase in population, climate changes, types of feeds given to cows have been termed as some of the factors that have contributed to the shortage of milk in the county.

Ogongo said Migori has partnered with the national government, World Bank and other stakeholders, and put up several measures that would help boost milk production

“We launched a program dubbed one dairy cow per sugarcane/tobacco farmer in 2014 where farmers are put in clusters of ten and are given one animal,” Ogongo explained.

So far, the county has given 470 cows to farmers since 2014 and have now benefitted 4, 700 farmers who now have a cow.

Last year, the county gave 90 cows to farmers.

“This has helped the county get 10 per cent of more milk annually which has seen us set coolers in Oyani, Suna West and Rongo has has helped preserve milk,” he said.