ACWW Zero Hunger Challenge Project No.5

Violet the Goat in her shed; and Project Beneficiary Jenipher Walunywa milking her dairy goat

Can a goat-rearing enterprise improve food & nutrition security?

Farmers can benefit from rearing high yielding, stall-fed, dairy goats in terms of a daily milk supply that can be consumed by family members and sold to neighbours, kids that are produced every sixteen months and can be used either for meat for home consumption or sold in the local market, as well as manure that can be used to increase soil fertility.  Goats’ milk is high in protein, fat, calcium and vitamins A and B and is a high quality food for young and old.

The Ufanisi Women’s Group used their links with the Mabanga Farmers’ Centre to implement a dairy goat rearing project in order to reduce poverty and improve food and nutrition security for young mothers and their children in Bungoma.

Twenty of the most vulnerable women were selected for the project.  Each of these women received training in goat-keeping and help in the construction of a weather-proof, animal shelter, using local materials.  They were then each given a Toggenburg, dairy goat, which began lactating within six months, following the birth of one or two kids.  The women were able to keep one litre of goat’s milk each day to feed their families and sell approximately two litres per day, at KES100 per litre.  The first weaned kids were passed on to other women in the project.  All beneficiaries are responsible for repaying KES34,500 (the cost of the impregnated goat) into the project’s revolving fund to enable more women to benefit from the project in future.

Several financial costs and benefits accrued to each farmer, from this project:

Farmer’s costs

• Daily fodder and supplementary feed

• Occasional Veterinary treatment

• Monthly repayments into project revolving fund, during the first three years

Farmer’s benefits

• Income from daily milk sales

• Income from selling two goat kids, once every 16 months

Were the women able to profit from this goat-rearing enterprise?

Each woman made a profit of KES2,300.00 per month from selling goat’s milk every day and two goat kids every 16 months.

Did they make sufficient profit to pay for their household’s maize short-fall?

The maize short-fall was determined according to the energy needs of each household.  The daily energy requirement for pregnant or breastfeeding women, men, adolescents and children is measured in kilocalories (kcals), see Table 1.   One kilogramme of maize grain provides 3.7 kilocalories.

Table 1. Calculating the minimum annual amount of maize grain needed per household

Each of the 20 households that participated in the dairy goat project contained an average of two adults (range 1-6) two children under 10 years (range 1-3) and one adolescent, aged 10-18 years (range 0-4).  This means that the average minimum amount of maize grain required by each household is 1,172.5 kg per year.

These households reported that they harvested only 240kg of maize grain, on average.  This left an average short-fall of 932.5kg of maize per household, per year.  The cost of buying sufficient maize to cover this short-fall, @KES80 per kg, is KES74,600.00 per household.  At the beginning of the project, monthly household income ranged from nought to KES2,000 (an average of KES985).  This was insufficient to pay for the additional maize required.

At the end of the project, the difference between the costs and benefits from goat rearing was calculated for each household.  When the profit was added to the previous income it came to an average of KES66,420.00 (range KES54,600.00 to KES78,600.00) per household, per year.

This amount will enable 10 (50%) of the households to buy enough maize grain to be food secure; households lacked an average of KES8,180.00, which is needed to guarantee food security in maize, see Table 2.  This is because the poorest farmers have larger families with little or no income to add to the funds gained from the goat enterprise.

*  KES (Kenyan Shilling) - approximate value as of June 2017 ≈ 0.00965US$ / 0.00762 £GBP

**  Expected income based on prevailing economic conditions

The Ufanisi Women’s Group reported that the women will be able to increase maize yields in future by using goat manure to improve soil fertility. They will also be able to use some of their income from dairy goats to buy improved seed and lease more land to expand their maize crop.

It was reported that the regular consumption of goat’s milk by the children had improved growth and development and caused their skin and hair to return to normal.  Their mothers said that they felt stronger and more energetic as a result drinking goat’s milk every day.  These women have been advised to interplant their maize garden with cowpea (black-eyed bean) to increase soil nitrogen and provide leaves and beans that are rich in iron and vitamin C – two important nutrients that are lacking in goat’s milk.