Every once
in a while there will come a person who wants (and can afford) to buy a herd of
dairy cows for commercial purposes but does not have the time needed to look
after them.
A good
number of these individuals live abroad, but plan to retire in the country; as
dairy farmers. They, however, are often not willing to start their dairy farming lives from a point of uncertainty.
Luckily, established
dairy farms have already taken notice of the rising interest, and are coming up
with enticing offers, allowing people to buy cows and have them raised professionally
on their own land.
It is
telephone farming, without the common risk of mismanagement, and it allows investors to add their lot to the five billion litres of milk produced in Kenya annually.
The farmer offers a service to the buyer of
the cow by feeding, and maintaining it, at a fee, while the owner gains from
the benefits a dairy farmer would get from a cow-money from milk sales. This form
of contract farming is gradually getting prominence in the country through the
frontiership of Manilla Farm, a company that describes itself as “international breeders and resellers of pure holstein
friesian heifers.”
The plan as outlined by Manilla is
straight-forward. The farmer, either existing or new, employs Manilla Farm as a
contract farmer and provides the land and investment capital. For Sh2m, Manilla
will provide five pregnant heifers and they will ensure that the animals are
well managed for a contract period of five years.
This herd belongs
to the farmer, who earns a monthly revenue that is agreed upon at the time of
contract signing. Manilla Farm will receive a basic fee to cover their
immediate costs, in addition to a management fee.
In this
arrangement, Manillla guarantee that the initial investment will be repaid in
full by the end of the first year, and that the investor will be on his/her way
to profits by the second year.
In addition, the
founders of Manilla take pride in the knowledge that one such project can
create employment for up to eight people.
————————
Manilla Farm can be
found at:
Kimathi Street, Kimathi Chambers, 6th
Floor. Nairobi, Kenya
-or –
reached through phone numbers: +254 726
490629/Phone2:: +254 732 409487/E-Mail: info@manillafarm.com