Brookside rewards farmers US$1.9M for meeting supply targets

KENYA – Brookside Dairy has announced a cash reward payout of US$1.9 million (KES 257 million) to dairy farmers for meeting supply targets.

The reward is over and above payments made for milk delivered to the processor, and represents an initiative by Brookside Dairy to encourage farmers to grow volumes while mainstreaming clean milk production in the value chain.

Brookside Dairy, General Manager for Milk Procurement, Emmanuel Kabaki, said the half-year payouts, under a scheme operated by the firm, rewards farmers for meeting agreed milk supply targets in both quantity and quality.

He added that the payout will benefit dairy groups and individual farmers across the country who signed up for the programme and have been supplying raw milk to Brookside in the period between 1^st July to 30^th November, this year.

“We are rewarding farmers who signed up for our scheme and were given raw milk supply targets, for both quantity and quality,” he said.

The windfall comes less than six months after the processor paid another Ksh 303 million in bonuses for milk supplied between 1^st December, 2024 to 31^st May, this year.

The bulk of the payout will go farmers supplying the processor through dairy groups (Ksh 118 million), while milk traders, large farms and individual suppliers will pocket the remainder of the Ksh 257 million, according to data released by the processor.

Brookside Dairy has been carrying out aggressive capacity building programmes for farmers across key raw milk production sheds, as it seeks to further grow the volumes supplied to it.

 “The reward scheme, in its sixth year now, is a statement of our excellent working relationship with all our 160,000 raw milk suppliers across the country. It has boosted the supply of high-quality milk, thus enabling us to tap into a larger share of high-value products,” said Kabaki.

This year alone, over 60,000 dairy farmers have benefited from Brookside’s extension services, which include field day trainings and the use of demonstration farms to showcase best practice in the dairy enterprise.

“Sustainable agronomic practices in dairy, such as adoption of agroforestry and use of biogas as a clean energy source, work towards reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are also working with our farmers on fodder establishment through distribution of fodder. This year, we have so far distributed a total of nearly 250,000 cuttings of Super Napier and sweet potato vines as fodder to our farmers for establishment on the farms,” Kabaki said.

The company said it is also strengthening the dairy supply chain through adoption of environmentally friendly technologies that promote sustainable milk production across the country.

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