East Africa’s largest dairy firm, Brookside Dairy of Kenya, will invest $20 million in Tanzania.
The move will see the company boost the country’s milk consumption to 60,000 litres daily in the next two years. It will also acquire new machinery and renovate its newly acquired Arusha factory to handle more milk delivery.
The company’s general manager for milk procurement and extension services, John Gethi, said the Arusha factory, which the company recently acquired, will be upgraded with the addition of a new Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) processing facility at a cost of $2 million.
Mr. Gethi said the firm has already forged a partnership with over 2,000 dairy farmers in Tanzania only three years since venturing into the country. He said the firm has already paid Tsh400 million ($400,000) in the past eight months to Tanzanian farmers for milk delivery.
Brookside receives some 13,000 litres of milk from local farmers daily, up from a mere 1,000 litres three years ago. It has set a target of 60,000 litres by 2009.
“Brookside urged the Tanzanian government to remove taxes on animal feeds and farm inputs, improve infrastructure in milk growing areas and provide farmers with micro-financing to enable growth in the sector,” Mr. Gethi said.
Brookside is the leading dairy processor in the region. Besides Tanzania, the company plans to expand to other African countries in the Comesa and Southern Africa regions.
It has negotiated loan arrangements with some of Kenya’s leading financial institutions, including Kenya Commercial Bank and Equity Bank, to enable farmers to obtain loans to expand their businesses by purchasing additional cattle or farm machinery.
