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.

Standard Group Plc HQ Office,
The Standard Group Center,Mombasa Road.
P.O Box 30080-00100,Nairobi, Kenya.
Telephone number: 0203222111, 0719012111
Email: [email protected]

NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Matende switched from pilot career to dairy millionaire

Livestock

By Loise Wanjiru | Sep 24, 2019

**The 35-year-old dairy farmer, Elly Matende, who ventured into dairy farming by “accident” and is now a millionaire. PHOTO: LOISE WANJIRU.**

Growing up in the populous estates of Nakuru Town and schooling at the Menengai High School, Elly Matende had his life planned out.

Matende was studying hard and was sure to pass his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations proceed to university and pursue his dream career as a pilot. The 35year old dairy farmer had never in his wildest imaginations thought of becoming a farmer because, like many young people, he viewed it as unrewarding, dirty and labour intensive.

His dream of becoming a pilot started turning into a mirage when he cleared form four and joined his family business in Nakuru town. He was running the business together with his brother John since his father had retired and moved to his rural home in Lugari, Kakamega County and this gave him a chance to taste the benefits and challenges of self-employment.

Keep Reading

His joy was short-lived as Matende and his brother, John, Diploma in Business Information Systems holder was pushed to their rural home by the 2007/08 post-election violence and had no choice but join his father in practicing subsistence farming.

“My father was not rearing cows, he was living with them and making very little from them. Life here was not easy and we really wanted to travel back to Nakuru and restart our business but our father dissuaded us,” he said during the Smallholder Dairy Commercialisation Program (SDCP) exit workshop at Dairy Training Institute in Naivasha.

The tide changed when Elly and his brother John were introduced to the SDCP in 2010 and were trained on better animal care, silage making and feeds preparation and value addition.

“Things have turned for the better since that training, my father’s farm which used to produce three litres from two cows has a big herd of pedigree cattle and produces 2,500 litres daily”.

What is surprising is that Elly’s family did not get a grant or a loan from SDCP neither did he buy new animals for the farm.

“Through technology, I used the two indigenous cows to change the herd into pedigree and today I am a recognized breeder,” says Elly, who was awarded the best dairy farmer in Kakamega County.

Besides the farm activities, he is also a trainer of trainers for dairy farmers, a breeder and makes silage for farmers at a fee. He converted his father’s unproductive land into a demo farm which hosts farmers from all over the country and beyond.

“I never knew that one could make money from agriculture but it is from the farm that I made my first few millions,” says Elly who has managed to maintain a humble outlook. He adds that he sells five pedigree cattle annually at a cost of between Sh250,000 and Sh350,000. He has also managed to cut the cost of milk production per litre to Sh12 because he mixes his feeds and makes silage among other cost-cutting practices. Similar success stories but not exactly the same can be retold across the nine high milk-producing counties where SDCP has been helping farmers for the past 13 years.

Principal Secretary in the Department of Livestock, Harry Kimtai said women reaped more from the International Fund for Agricultural Department (Ifad) sponsored program with 60 percent while men took 40 percent. The Sh3.5billion project was a joint venture between Ifad who injected Sh3.07 billion while the Government of Kenya contributed more than Sh280 million.

The PS said the beneficiaries gave additional funding of over Sh150 million. While commending Ifad for a good job, Kimutai said the organization’s support for small scale dairy farmers had been realised through the provision of loans and grants which have positively impacted the rural folks.