FARMERS: Farmers contracted to Brookside Dairy have received a welcome relief after the processor announced an increase in producer prices of milk, on the back of disruptions in the value chain caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the new rates effective from today, Brookside will pay 17 per cent more for a litre of raw milk, as it seeks to consolidate its lead in the milk market.

The new price will benefit over 160,000 smallholder farmers across the country, who deliver to Brookside either through co-operatives or as individuals.

John Gethi, the processor’s director of milk procurement and manufacturing, said the raised farm gate price is a welcome relief to farmers hit by the pandemic.

The pandemic has seen supplies made to processors drop by 36 per cent during the second and third quarters of the year. 

Knock-on effect

Drop in production has had a knock on effect on incomes of smallholder farmers, who have seen volumes sold to processors decrease over the period under review.

“The price review has been necessitated by a change in the prevailing market conditions, principally the forces of demand and supply,” Gethi said in a statement.

The new price is a major incentive to dairy co-operatives, who now have an opportunity to earn up to Sh 42 per kilo for deliveries of chilled raw milk to the processor’s Ruiru factory.

“We are calling on our farmers to use the additional income for enhanced feeding of their animals.

They also need to prioritise the ever important overall health of their animals for increased production,” Gethi added. 

Farmers, he said, need to invest in farm-grown fodder, which can be conserved for use during seasons of depressed rainfall.

This is the third time this year that Brookside has adjusted raw milk supply prices for its farmers as it seeks to further increase its share of marketed brands, on the back of rising demand for dairy products.