Improving incomes with dairy goats

Kenya Dairy Goat and Capacity Building Project

In the arid Mwingi and Kitui districts of the Eastern Province, over 60% of people live in poverty. Only one in five people has access to clean water. Farming is limited, because the average household owns just half a hectare of land which is not enough to sustain them. The number of women-headed households is increasing as men migrate to urban areas in search of employment.

In these difficult circumstances, people are trying to earn enough money to feed their families and afford essentials like healthcare and clothing. Goat keeping is ideal for these struggling districts. Goats need less space than cows and goats' milk is highly nutritious, so it goes a long way to reducing malnutrition. Through breeding goats and selling the milk households can quickly increase their income. In addition, this is an activity that women traditionally undertake.

Building on the success of our other dairy goat projects, FARM-Africa is now helping to increase the availability of affordable animal healthcare in the area by training Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs).  This is combined with training in how to locate safe water sources for household use and irrigation, and help with establishing fodder and food crops. All this contributes to the long term viability and sustainability of goat rearing as a key source of income to the communities, and helps us build on our already successful Dairy Goat model.

How are communities benefiting?

Through farmers' groups and women's groups, communities are improving their understanding and practices for goat-keeping, breeding and animal healthcare.

• Community members are receiving pure Toggenburg goats and learning how to care for and cross-breed them with local goats to produce high-milk-yielding goats.
• Availability of Toggenburg bucks and the expertise to cross-breed them with local goats  mean that all member of the community can improve the quality milk yield of their own herds of goats.
• We're training and equipping a network of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) to provide a simple veterinary service to surrounding villages. People are boosting their incomes by training as a CAHW or using the CAHW's expertise to improve the health and production of their livestock.
• Communities have improved access to clean, safe water. With our training, community members are learning how to identify water sources and dig and protect shallow wells. Communities are then using this water to irrigate food crops and vegetables.
• People are better equipped to grow nutritious fodder for their goats thanks to training and seedlings from FARM-Africa.
• We're using the project to develop a model of good-practice that we can share with local governments and other NGOs, so that many more communities can benefit from our learning and adopt the new practices.

Who are we helping?

We're working directly with 1,000 smallholder farmer households. A further 30,000 households are benefiting from access to goats' milk, improved goats for cross-breeding, animal health services and clean water.

Project partners

FARM-Africa is working together with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, Kitui Mwingi Dairy Goat Breeders and Animal Health Workers Associations, and the Provincial Administration.

Improving incomes with dairy goats

Kenya Dairy Goat and Capacity Building Project

As part of the project Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) are trained and equipped to provide a much needed basic veterinary service to ensure that the goats remain healthy and productive. The project supports both individuals and the larger community. The CAHW earns money by providing basic veterinary services and people in the community access affordable animal healthcare.

Teresia's story

Teresia's community chose her to become their CAHW. Before training, Teresia was struggling to make ends meet. When her husband became ill, she sold their chickens and goats to pay his hospital bill. But when he died, she was left to support their three children alone. She got a job making rope, but it only paid her 40 to 50 shillings a day (around 38 pence), barely enough to feed her family.

As part of her training Teresia learnt about animal healthcare and received a bicycle, a mobile phone and an animal health kit. On her first day of work, she made over four times her usual income. Soon, Teresia was able to build a decent house for her children. She bought them the food, beds and clothing which before they had gone without. The wider community were also benefiting from the services she was able to provide.

In her own words

Teresia is proud of her achievements. She says, "I used to knock at every rich man's home begging for casual jobs so my children could eat. After the training I realised I was no longer the beggar. I worked hard and now earn more money than I ever expected."

Policy and Research

From Grassroots to Government: FARM-Africa’s experiences influencing policy in sub-Saharan Africa
Adobe PDF - 781kb

Best Practices

Farmers' Dairy Goat Production Handbook
Adobe PDF - 1.38mb

Working Papers

02. Goats: Unlocking their potential for Africa’s farmers
Adobe PDF - 559kb

07. Kenya Dairy Goat and Capacity Building Programme: A socio-economic baseline report
Adobe PDF - 587kb

10. Keeping Up With Technology: The use of mobile telephony in delivering community-based decentralised animal health services in Mwingi and Kitui Districts, Kenya
Adobe PDF - 560kb

12. Goat’s Milk: A viable contribution in the challenge to prevent Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV in the Mbale Region, Uganda?
Adobe PDF - 1.4mb

Scaling-up Success - FARM-Africa's new strategy for development
Adobe PDF - 444kb