Sustainability in action on dairy farms in Africa, Europe and Latin America

At the third DSF Sustainability in action on dairy farms webinar, Flaviano Chikonyara, Extension Officer at the Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers and Andrew Oduor, General Manager of Palmhouse Dairies in Nairobi, Kenya provided valuable context on dairy production in their respective countries prior to introducing three leading farmers to share their proactive sustainability efforts.

Marlon Gwede, a medium scale dairy farmer in Mashonaland west province of Zimbabwe ventured into dairying in 2015 through Nestle Dairy and Empowerment Scheme in the area. His involvement in a local network of small and medium scale dairy farms, which he now chairs, has clearly helped him and others in the Chitomborwizi Network to make big strides in improving efficiency through better management practices and use of technology for animal health, genetic gain, feed and forage management and better use of manure. From utilising affordable sexed semen, climate resilient fodder crop production, sharing machinery to harvest and conserve forages and introducing green energy on farms, has resulted in healthier more efficient cows, producing more milk as well as providing biogas for domestic uses such as heat, cooking, refrigeration and light.

 

Two Kenyan smallholder dairy farmers, Gabriel Njau Njoroge (a teacher) and Isaac Ruhiu (an agricultural officer), then outlined how planting forage and trees completely transformed their farms, income and lives. Through an initiative initiated by Palmhouse Dairies, they received training on how to grow Napier grass, Brachiaria and Desmodium and then how to ensile them to enable storage for feeding in the dry months. These forages were a game changer with milk yields increasing by 35% as well as reducing cost of bought in feed and extra income from sale of any excess forage.
A further programme of tree planting a range of species provides additional feed for their cows, a further income source from fruit and firewood alongside providing shade and aiding soil moisture retention. These two initiatives combined have resulted in a stronger, thriving rural economy with improved food security and nutrition, as well as enabling them to send their children to school.

 

 

A recording of the webinar is available on the DSF Members Area if you would like to catch up or even relive the key messages shared by these progressive farmers!

Don’t miss our next Sustainability in action on dairy farms webinar – in Europe on September 17th (register here) when we will hear from dairy farmers in the Netherlands and UK. Latin America on 11th November – register here) concludes our series this year, with inspiring farmers from Chile and Mexico.  The DSF looks forward to welcoming you to these two webinars - don’t forget to register!