The aggregation power of cooperative societies in bringing together farmers and other production sectors of the economy is poised to play a critical role in the government’s agenda to uplift Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid economically.
State Department for Cooperatives Principal Secretary (PS) Patrick Kiburi Kilemi said that the structure of our economy is that around 22 million people are economically productive, but the people who have a regular income are less than four million, leaving about 18 million people who are hustling every day in the villages and the MSMEs sector.
“The people at the village have the land as a factor of production but they don’t have capital. The structure of our economy is that our people own one to two acres. It is for this reason that the President formed the Ministry of Cooperatives so that we can rearrange the structure of the economy and put in structures to assist our people,” said the PS.
Kilemi said that the cooperative movement is an Sh1.5 trillion sector and very impactful in the country, challenging the sector players to come out and market the many projects that they have undertaken to transform this country.
Speaking during the launch of activities for the 2023 Ushirika Day, the PS said that most Kenyans are smallholder producers, and aggregation is the only way to assist them.
“We have a perfect example of Githunguri where each family owns a cow and every 5th of the month, they are able to get a regular income from their dairy cooperative. To produce a litre of milk is around Sh30 to Sh35 and Giththunguri is paying between Sh50 and Sh55 per litre and the farmers are getting a profit of Sh20 per litre,” explained Kilemi.
According to the PS, the government has nine priority value chains, with the cooperatives department having 17 priority value chains. “If people are organized and assisted in production via cooperatives, they could produce more and this would address food security in the country. As a State Department we are focused on aggregation in sectors such as fishing, mining, cotton among others,” said the PS.
He pointed out the maize value chain, which is among the biggest in the country but has very few farmers’ cooperatives.
“We have like six maize cooperatives in the North Rift but these are not enough since the sector is so big. We want to aggregate famers into big cooperatives so that they are able to negotiate for good prices for their products, get affordable farm inputs and this will enable the country to meet the maize shortfall,” said Kilemi.
“In Kwale, the Base Titanium are assisting the residents through an initiative they call PAVI which is pamba na viazi since the county has a huge potential to produce these two crops in large quantities,” he added.
He explained PAVI, through the local cooperative, is able to produce cotton in Kwale, process it in Makueni and sell it in Thika, and they are able to get around Sh87 per kilogramme.
“Today, we are importing cotton seed cake from Uganda. If we can empower our farmers and their cooperatives through aggregation, our cotton farmers will be producing enough seed cake which will go a long way in reducing the cost of animal feed in the country,” he said.
“The government has given a lot of prominence to cooperatives, and we are excited that we have been given an opportunity to collaborate with the government for faster development,” said Cooperative Alliance of Kenya (CAK) CEO Daniel Marube.
More cooperatives to boost dairy production
Mr Kilemi has also called on farmers in Uasin Gishu County to unite by forming cooperatives to scale up efforts to promote dairy farming and enhance milk production in the region.
The PS acknowledged the significance of Uasin Gishu County, home to two crucial public companies, Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) and Rivatex Company, which deals with textiles.
Kilemi encouraged farmers to take advantage of the cooperative system, urging them to organize themselves and join cooperatives for collective benefits in rearing cows for milk production.
The Managing Director of Kenya Dairy Board (KDB), Margaret Kibogi, noted that Uasin Gishu currently produces 230 million litres of milk annually.
