Milk matters! Farmer-led dairy development in Kinangop milk shed Kitiri Farmers Dairy Cooperative was started in 1964 to market milk, pyrethrum and wool for its members. The initial active members were 356. During this time they sold Milk through KCC, Pyrethrum to PBK and wool was sold to different people in Nakuru and Eldoret. Milk became the major activity in the period between 1964- 1990s. In 1996 the Cooperative collapsed due to mismanagement and at this time many other Cooperatives in Kenya collapsed due to milk market liberation. Farmers could easily sell milk away from the Cooperative, and this lead to reduced milk prices. 
With increased need to sell milk, in 2001 Farmers came together to from a Self Help Group in order to sell milk. The Self-help worked for a short time and thereafter the Farmers turned to Brokers who collected milk at a low price and sold the milk in Nairobi and Naivasha. The Brokers again failed due to non-payment.

In 2001 the Society was congregated and started collecting milk and selling to Aberdare Creameries. Farmers hinged together and started milk collection and reviving the Cooperative. The reviving team consisted of 20 members with a milk collection capacity of 100 litres per day. The Society has grown over the years.

The Cooperative provides a number of services to the members including; milk collection at farm gate, school fees advance, National Hospital Insurance Fund annual fees, outpatient treatment at Kinangop Hospital, and access to credit through recommendations to Aberdare Sacco. Youth are assisted to acquire Dairy cows with support from ILO. Currently, about 60 youths have received dairy cows on credit and this makes Kitiri quite distinct from other Farmers Cooperative Societies with an average age of Farmers at 34 years.

With the underlying project Kitiri aspires to increase membership as well as milk intake in order to better serve the market by handling growing volumes of good quality milk. Main condition therefore is that the cooperative computarizes its financial management.

increase membership to 2000
increase volumes to an average of 10,000 litres per day                                                     reduce milk rejections by 20%
train 800 farmers
conduct one exposure visit 
source for more milk markets

The Cooperative has a five year strategic plan that is guiding the growth of their milk business. Although milk is collected at farm gate, milk rejection is common due to poor milk handling; poor hygiene and lack of a milk cooler which would help prolong the life of the milk and therefore reducing the rate of rejection. The Cooperative uses manual systems which limits reporting and efficiency. Other challenges  faced by the Cooperative include; Fodder management, limited access to credit to upgrade (zero grazing) the dairy farms, high cost of production due to high cost of feeds, Limited market , poor financial management practice, weak supply chain and lack of a business focus. 
	
Kitiri Farmers’ Cooperative, SNV and Agriterra have developed a one year action plan to address some of the above challenges. The targets for 2011 – 2012 are as follows;
o	Increase Membership to 1800
o	Increase Milk volumes to  average of 10,000 litres per day
o	Improve on milk quality and reduced milk rejection by 15%
o	Train 20 youths as service providers to 540 farmers trained
o	Undertake 2 exposure visits
o	Expand the market portfolio

To develop a bancable business plan

o Increase Membership to 1800
o Increase Milk volumes to average of 10,000 litres per day
o Improve on milk quality and reduced milk rejection by 15%
o Train 20 youths as service providers to 540 farmers trained
o Undertake 2 exposure visits
o Expand the market portfolio