IN most sub-Saharan African countries, small-scale farmers are often plagued with poverty and lack of basic needs not to mention knowledge and latest skills.
The situation is more pronounced in the arid and semi arid regions where even the relatively well-off farmers find themselves lining up for food aid. However the situation is different with Wilson Kyalo, a dairy farmer in the dry area of Machakos district in Kenya’s drought prone Eastern province.
Clad in a suit and a tie, Kyalo displays a different picture of what small scale farmers are thought to be. He says it doesn’t matter how big or small your land is; what matters is the management skills you have and your capability to maximize on the land.
“ I started with a 10 acre land where I had only one dairy cow, a cross of a Friesian and a Boran that produced 15 litres of milk per day. That was in January 1974.Then I worked hard and bought a larger farm of 70 acres,” Kyalo says.
He is now comfortably milking 15 of his forty animals with each producing an average of 40 litres of milk per day.
Through long-term breeding, embryo transfer and imported semen, Kyalo has managed to increase his milk production and the size of the herd to 40 cattle. The herd has been increasing and he has been forced to sell some of the animals to avoid straining his feeds. The community around has benefited from this arrangement as he sells bulls to farmers who cannot afford imported semen and also those willing to raise the quality of their herd.
Through an improved farm management, Kyalo has enough land for every feed. He has divided the land into sections that he is planting Napier grass on eight acres, Boma Rhodes on five acres, fodder maize on twelve acre, a small plot where he is doing trial on Lucerne, sweet vines and desmodium and a potion for his domestic consumption.
“The main problem in this district is water,” Kyalo says. He has dug a borehole, three earth dams and two shallow wells but he still says the problem is not yet over because when it comes to very dry spells, all his water wells-dry up.
To ensure his herd does not run out of food, Kyalo has constructed a stall where he stores hay for the dry season. Dry grass, dry Napier grass, and chopped maize stalks including dry harvested beans stalks are the main animal feed he specializes in.
The dry matter he feeds the animals increases their need for water, which in turn boosts the milk production. To the dry matter,Kyalo adds molasses and other supplements that keep his animals healthy.
Watching Kyalo explain the management of a dairy farm, it gives an impression of a man who has immense love and knowledge of the animals.
It is through this understanding of his livestock that he has received all manner of visitors in his farm. Most of them are farmers and having a look at his visitors’ book one cannot fail to notice the caliber of visitors that have frequented the farm from Kenya, East Africa and the world in general.
Among the contigering measures, Kyalo has put in place during the dry spell is to reduce his cows by selling either to farmers or to the Central Artificial Insemination Station (C.A.I.S), Kabete where so far he has contributed five bulls to the station. The animals are fed three times a day with three kilos per meal per cow and they are milked in the morning and in the evening.
To control inbreeding, all animals are registered and their records taken. He also uses Artificial Insemination in breeding his cows.
Furthermore, all his cows are restricted in the farm that is properly fenced to discourage other outside animals entering the farm.
In order to have different breeds of cows, he chooses different bulls for breeding in case he uses a bull. He says this is done in order to achieve various characteristics as opposed to AI method.
Kyalo has no problem when it comes to marketing his milk. The bulk of it ends up in Machakos town and neighbours who collect it at his home.
To cope with the semi arid conditions, Kyalo has different ways of producing feeds for his cows.
He plants Napier grass in a system known as ‘Tubukiza System’ where a hole is dug then three wheelbarrows of manure are poured in it and then irrigated.
He then mixes the soil with one wheelbarrow of manure as he plants the splits of the Napier grass.
By the use of the dams, wells and the borehole, waters the plantation twice a day (morning and evening), he uses 20 litres of water per week per hole. The Napier is then cut after 21 days if properly irrigated.
“This experience I acquired from my farther who used to rear local cows and during the milking, I could taste some raw milk in my palm and it really tasted sweet,” he says.
The farm is on a strick tick control programme and it has been a source of breeding stock to many farmers in Kenya. All his animals are registered with the Kenya Stud Book and are on contract mating with (C.A.I.S).
Wilson Kyalo’s farm has been the source of knowledge to many farmers and group organizations.
He is currently the chairman of Masaku Dairy Cattle Self help Group and a director of Kenya Dairy board representing Eastern Region.
According to Machakos District Livestock Production Officer Damaris Mativo, the district has over 35,000 dairy animals and almost three hundred local breeds of animals. However most of the animals are located in the ranches and not in small-scale farmers.
To help farmers like Kyalo, Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), has tried to educate and take Agriculture researchers to various parts of Africa visiting farmers and establishing their problems.
Kyalo’s farm has been showcased by Nepad as one of the best practice in dairy farming in the semi arid areas of Africa.
Mrs. Mativo notes that the farm has acted as an inspiration both for researchers and farmers. However little is replicated by the neighbours mostly because of lack of resources and also the will to improve on the livestock.
“You find that his farm is like an island. The moment you leave the farm you see poverty. I think the other farmers lack the will to indulge in serious dairy farming.”
She adds that dairy farming even in other areas of the country that receive enough rains, have not succeeded like Kyalo’s.

The writer is a journalism student who was on attachment with Biosafety News