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Lucy Wanjiru spining wool at Njambini Wool Crafters Society offices in Kinangop, Nyandarua County. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]
When we visit Joseph Njoroge in Nyandarua, he is busy assessing things at his father’s expansive 80-acre farm. Here, 200 flock of the corriedale sheep roam freely.
Corriedale sheep are a dual-purpose breed, meaning they are used in the production of wool and meat.
His late father began sheep rearing in the 80s. He then took over managing it on behalf of the family. Business is not so bad, he says.
“I can attest to the fact that this business is rewarding. Although my dad concentrated on selling mutton, I do concentrate on woolwhich fetches better returns,” he says.
Nyandarua County has been home to sheep rearing since the pre-colonial days when the vast land was inhibited by grasslands.
Njoroge is not the only farmer practicing sheep farming in the area.
Karanja Wainaina is also another young turk who inherited his father’s expansive farm that hosts more than 70 sheep. He also spoke highly of the sheep rearing business.
Maturity period
“Many people wonder why we still keep sheep like our fathers. They cannot understand why we are not keeping dairy cows like them. But we know the value of wool, that is why we still rear sheep. It pays the bills,” Wainaina says.
Apart from the wool, which takes a year to mature after being shaven, he also sells mutton to butcheries. It is a big investment he says.
Wainaina, who is a trained engineer, chose to concentrate on sheep farming after learning the fortunes it was bringing to their family.
Wainaina says he gets an average of Sh1.05 million whenever he shaves his sheep and sells wool to the spinning industries.
Sells wool
“I harvest more than 300 kilos of wool after they mature annually. Alongside this, I get manure for my other farms and also some mutton,” Wainaina says.
So what are some of the benefits of sheep rearing?
“First, we never lack a market for our products. Marketing is not one of our challenges since we are few,” Wainaina says.
He sells his wool to Njambini Wool Crafters, a welfare group they (sheep owners) started and is now a cooperative.
According to Friends of Kinangop Plateau Joint Management committee chairman Samuel Ng’ang’a, they started the enterprise as welfare group in 2004. And with time it has grown offering members a solid and reliable market. The welfare group grew into a cooperative that buys tonnes of wool from the farmers in Njambini.
“In 2012, we registered Njambini Wool Crafters as a cooperative. We now buy wool from farmers and make indigenous products from the wool like carpets, scarfs, blankets and other woven products that we sell to Germany and the United Kingdom and in local city workshops who buy our yarns,” Ng’ang’a says.
Created jobs
With more than 30 sheep farmers being under their umbrella, the cooperative buys two to three tonnes of wool annually from farmers.
Apart from offering farmers a market, Njambini Wool Crafters has employed more than 20 youth who make a livelihood from the factory.
Since they use the traditional spinning technologies from New Zealand, many people around the world come to the factory to learn how to make quality wool products using simple technology.
Expansion plans
“We sell a 1 square feet of carpet at between Sh400 and Sh500. This is sold far and wide around the world. I market the products to the outside world and locally,” says the marketing manager Dominic Kimani.
Kimani says annually, their income totals ir income from the spinning factory spans to more than Sh80 million.
This has helped them expand the market for the farmers.
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The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization
with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper print operations,
television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The Standard Group
is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in
matters of national and international interest.
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