There are few more scenic places to farm than the Naivasha, but Gatheca banked on dairy farming in Kenya’s party centre and speaks to the opportunities and challenges of dairy farming.

Martin Gatheca bought his first three cows two decades ago hoping to keep his mother busy and also offer her some security. At that time, Martin was working in the United States of America(USA) where he says he lived a good life with healthy paycheques. He never envisioned that one day he would be-come a farmer, but today he is among renowned dairy farmers in Naivasha, and a renowned figure for carving a niche in dairying.

“Initially, dairy farming was like a hobby to me but upon realizing that it could be a profitable venture I decided to tap into this huge and fast-growing sector. At first, I started it as my side hustle before venturing into it fully seven years ago.”

He decided to become a dairy entrepreneur after realizing that the sector offers a big opportunity in Kenya. This after realizing its potential with available data showing that cows produce over 3.5 billion litres of milk annually while Kenyans consume more milk than people in any other country in Africa.

Demand for dairy products

Further, demand for dairy products is on the rise and by 2030, Kenya is likely to become a net dairy exporter.

This kept him thinking and he decided to increase the number of cows on his farm and even employed more people to take care of the animals. It took hard work and persistence which enabled Gatheca to expand his business at a steady pace to where it is now.

Dubbed Nai’posha Dairy Farm, the project is located in Naivasha and currently boasts 300 cows. On a daily basis, the farm produces about 1000 litres of milk which is sold to different people and processors.

“My farm opened its doors commercially in 2016. Initially, we used to do the business casually back at home in Gatundu, Ichaweri village. To make it a full time and profitable business I had to move from Gatundu to Naivasha where I had bought a 70-acre piece of land. Before relocating I had only 50 cows.”

Losing his mother in 2016 made him make this decision because in her absence, he was now fully in charge of the venture and he took it in his stride. He had the choice of abandoning the venture, but he decided to keep it and says it has proven to be one of the best decisions of his life.

Shortly after relocating, he doubled the number of the cows and by 2019, the farm was doing well and could accommodate some 300 cows. He even brought his family on board to run the business. Currently, his daughter is the chief executive ošicer of the farm while his wife is the accountant.

Legit cow milk

“Today this farm delivers pure cow milk, which is raw, unpasteurized, and has zero processing. We don’t compromise on our quality and that is why I have invested in milking machines and chillers. We sell our milk to individuals at Sh50 per litre.”

Though the business has been booming over the years, Gatheca says the outbreak of COVID 19 had a huge impact on the business. He says his business started experiencing challenges in 2020 after the first case of COVID 19 was reported in Kenya.

Due to restrictions in movement, Gatheca says the farm could no longer afford to produce their own feeds because raw materials were not readily available. This forced them to start buying from other manufacturers. Within a short time, however, prices had shot from Sh1,800 for a 50kg bag of dairy meal to al-most Sh3,000 forcing them to reduce the quantity.

The quality of the feeds also dipped. Hotels that were among his main customers closed due to the lockdown which saw him suƒer huge losses.

“I lost about 40 cows because I was not able to feed them well, and others died due to mastitis and other health-related illnesses. I also had to reduce the number of animals on the farm as well as the feed quantity from five kilograms of dairy meal per cow per day to one and a half kilograms. Today I have 150 dairy cows and I am now milking 56 cows,” he says.

Though the venture is no longer profitable due to the high costs and shortage of inputs, he has not called it quits because of his love for the animals. He is also optimistic about the future but says if nothing is done to reduce the cost of inputs then the sector will suffer bigly.

“If the cost of the feeds continues to go up, we will be forced to close down. I cannot keep pumping more money into this project without returns. If this happens I will lose about Sh100 million worth of investment.”

To cushion his investment, he has introduced about 300 Dorper sheep and expanded to crop farming. The farm also boasts of crops including cabbages, potatoes, onions, soybeans, lucerne, hay, and oats. All these crops are grown organically and his farm has an organic certification from EnCert Limited. Organic certification services.

This body offers organic certification services for the domestic organic sector for sale in the Kenyan market. Gatheca wants the government to allow im- portation of yellow maize and soya to enable local manufacturers to produce animal feeds since they are readily available as compared to the traditional varieties.

He says a shortage of animal feed is a result of a lack of raw materials and that once the raw materials are available the problem will be solved. “I don’t understand why the government is restricting feed manufacturers from using GMO materials to make feeds yet they are readily availing- able and even cheaper when compared with the conventional materials.

This is the only way that will remove us from the current mess,” he said. If all goes well he plans to restock his business and continue with the business. He also plans to import new technologies to make his farm a model farm. However, he has no idea of expanding- ing into other dairy products other than milk.

“I have travelled to many countries to get more skills in dairy farming and hope to transfer this knowledge to our country. I would like to double my production and I know that with technology
all this is possible.”