Name

Benjamin Kimurgor Kemboi

Category

Cattle raising

Speciality

Production of cow’s milk

Age

36 years

Community

Kalenjin

Region

Turbo

Country

Kenia  

Benjamin Kimurgor Kemboi

Inspired by other farmer to farmer facilities in his county Benjamin Kemboi from Uasin Gishu District in Kenya manages his small scale dairy farm and also an on-site farmer to farmer training program. Benjamin started dairy farming as a young man, with help of his wife. He is a visionary and together with Emily Kemboi. They now have a very clear 2, 5 and 10 year plans for their farm. Since Benjamin left his maize plantation aside in 2003 to buy and take care of two dairy cows, the Kembois are eager to share all the training and knowledge the government through the IFAD Project, Smallholders Dairy Commercialization Programme (SDCP) and the cooperative to which they belong to, have provided. They say it has been a key to their success in dairy farming.
 
Mr. Benjamin Kemboi started his dairy business when he was 25 years old. At the time, he sat down to consider the most viable farming enterprise for his family and himself and realized that when you plant maize you need a lot of land, but with dairy you can have small space. What was most needed was a lot of training. Thanks to the training that he have received, he has been very successful with his farm and now has a very complete vision for his farm.
 
At the beginning he was using the local breed since he did not have the money to buy a good animal. His first cows used to give him a maximum of 5 litres of milk a day. He decided to use artificial insemination after attending a training about it. Now he has a very good breed of cows that can produce up to 25 litres of milk a day. It is a big difference compared to what he was getting when he started in 2003. He has also expanded the business and trains other farmers. He does it because he believes ne cannot keep a dairy cow without knowledge and training.
 
The trainings he has attended have brought him from having two cows to this level [10 cows]. I have even been trained as a GALS champion and as a community resource person. So now he trains farmers from different counties. Farmers pay him 2 dollars each to receive the trainings. He shows them his dairy meal concentrates and other techniques that he has learnt during the past 10 years. In addition, he also teaches them on the importance of having a vision journey that is built together each individual’s farmer family and that can help them monitor their farm’s progress.
 
During Procasur Africa’s 2017 Learning Route: Linking smallholder farmers to commercialization practices – the case of Farmers Organizations in the Kenyan dairy sector, Benjamin took LR participants to visit his farm explaining to them about his journey as a dairy farmer. His secret, he says, is using knowledge as the most important tool of his farm. He and his wife Emily are an example for many farmers in the district. He believes many farmers are afraid of using new technologies, such as artificial insemination, because it seems risky and many small scale farmers cannot afford to take risks. But he poses himself as an example that if you are a good “student” and apply all the methods and knowledge that are available the success rate of breeding and time saving technologies can double or even triple.
 
Benjamin’s valuable practical knowledge and innovative leadership has had a positive impact in his community and the dairy farmers’ cooperative he belongs to. Benjamin started as a subsistence farmer and is now a training provider. From him we can learn the relevance of supporting innovative youth within the rural contexts.
In the past 3 years Benjamin has reduced the price of producing one litre of milk, on his farm, by around 40% without reducing the quality.
 
He has since increased his farming area to 7 acres of land for the dairy farming and 2 acres of land for maize farming.
Benjamin reports increased incomes from the 40 litres of milk per day from dairy farming, from which he makes about USD $400 per month and increase in income from the 50 bags of maize per season from which he makes USD $1000 per season. He also makes USD 500 monthly from his local shop.

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