Silo Pack

1. Dairy Fodder post-harvest losses - during high rain seasons semi-arid dairy feeding producer farmers are faced with massive loss of quality fodder due to incapacity to harvest, process, package and preserve livestock fodder. This scenario has  exposed small-scale dairy feeding farmers to purchasing low quality, yet expensive fodder products from exploitative middlemen & unscrupulous business vendors with limited ability to establish the source of  feeds. 

Application of modern fodder processing & preservation techniques and technologies will also solve the following interrelated dairy feed sector gaps;

 a) Free-range rearing of poor breed animals - poor access to readily available feed products eventually converts the rural semi-arid communities to pastoralism where they practice uncontrolled livestock farm management systems which are detrimental to environmental conservation. This practice further immensely contributes to massive soil erosion, the spread of foot and mouth and other communicable diseases among the semi-arid flocks of livestock. 

b) Poor Value Chain Mechanization - dairy feed farmers currently hire payloaders who use their feet, water tanks and heavy Tractor Tires to firm pack foliage during preparation of silage products. Manual labor is semi-skilled, costly and unreliable. 

c) Increased Cow footprint Methane gas (CH4) production - the absence of modern fodder processing and preservation mechanisms encourage keeping of large flocks of livestock which adversely contribute to global warming.

d) Decreased land - free-range nature of livestock production within small-holder communities in Kenya has caused limited land necessary for the cultivation of climatic tolerant grass varies such as brachialis, corn, sorghum, kikuyu grass varieties etc. which are highly nutritious and soil conserving crops.   

e) Poor Household energy conversions - introduction of zero-grazing livestock farming methods will stimulate safe green energy conversions into Bio gas and Solar energies amongst the myriad of grassroots dairy feed producer communities.

f) Loose industry linkages - local dairy farmer cooperatives are deprived of critical policy dynamics owing to poor infrastructural networks which are inclusive of poor communication networks. Introducing them to related value chain stakeholder community vide introduction letters and emails will take them close to critical contacts and markets. 

g) Limited market access - production of non-attractive milk products at the grassroots farmer cooperatives owing to low production of milk has deprived the community access to national and international markets and investments.

h) Poor access to capital - the informal structures currently under use by semi-arid dairy feeding cooperatives disorients potential advisory and financial collaborations. 

The overall challenge that the initiative will be addressing is the limited knowledge on the importance, adoption and use of Silage fodder products by smallholder farmers in feeding their cows. The working relationship with other stakeholders will enhance quality, adoption, use, distribution and marketing of silage while complimenting the use of quality hay.

 Multisectoral approach will enhance reliable and sustainable access to quality silage and hay by smallholder dairy farmers and whereas working on this, other social and economic challenges will be addressed specifically low integration of women and youth in the dairy value chain in the regions.

A. Solar Powered micro dairy fodder Vacuum Packaging Machine - aimed at enabling small-holder dairy producers to observe the 3 main universal feed quality factors as follows; 

a) the nutrient of crop stored 

b) the stage of maturity and moisture content when harvested and

c) the effectiveness of product processing & preservation method. 

B. Technology used; 

1. Solar Energy: is a renewable safe resource and reduces carbon emissions at the small-households. Engaging Renewable Energy industry players and stakeholders will motivate the semi-arid communities to embrace alternative green energy conversions into bio gas and solar energies at the homestead level.

Solar powered fodder processing units will help reduce homes' electricity bill by more than 70% which is against the current high cost on-grid / Diesel powered chaffcutter machines.

Going forward farmers at the grassroots level will benefit from getting money back through government's Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs)

Deepening the adoption of safe renewable energy in the rural homes will eventually improve quality of life owing to reduced carbon emissions, healthy families and more revenues from reduced power bills. 

2. Vacuuming Technology; will enable farmers harvest their raw fodder at optimal stages of maturity and ensile at proper maturity and moisture content (58% - 68%). Fermentation process taking place within 3-wks will increase the protein value of the fodder. The resultant product is SILAGE which is forage harvested while still green and nutritious, conserved through a natural 'pickling' process where Lactic acid is produced when the sugars in the forage plants are fermented by bacteria in a controlled airtight environment. 

Silage products produced at the small household fields will keep  for up-to 21/2, 3 - 5 years without deteriorating therefore eliminating the massive fodder post-harvest losses currently experienced by the semi-arid dairy producer farmers. 

Currently there are only Tractor propelled Silage packaging machines owned by large scale breeders and producer farmers of livestock, who own huge tracts of land. Due to its capital intensive nature of acquiring sophisticated machinery and skilled manpower, small-scale semi-arid producer farmers have been isolated thus exposed to forage post-harvest losses.   

3. Fermentation; is targeted at improving the nutrition value of the raw forage without introduction of industrial chemicals i.e. Carbohydrates (plant sugars) are consumed (oxidized) by the plant cells to yield carbon dioxide, water and heat (sugar + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water + heat). This natural fermentation process will gradually reduce use of harmful industrial chemicals and fertilizer by rural farmers, eventually enabling the adoption of organic farm practices.

50kg Silage Value Packs: this initiative will capacitate small-scale farmers to produce nutritious fodder  products which can be consumed at once without having to spend lots of energy, man-loading hours and costs.

As a minimum, a simple technological blend of Solar energy and Vacuuming technologies will essentially provide a green fodder supplement to enhance rumen function for dairy animals throughout fodder dry spells.

We have partnered with Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (KIRDI) in the machine fabrication which is undergoing various industrial tests. 

A. Project Baseline Survey covered Katheri & Kaiti Dairy Farmer Cooperative Societies - these two dairy farmer cooperatives are located in Meru and Makueni semi-arid Counties respectively. The Katheri Dairy Cooperative Society (KDFCS) consists of 2,500 active suppliers of milk, while Kaiti Dairy Farmers Society (KDFS) is made up of 1,200 suppliers of raw milk daily.  

Beneficially Community is composed of semi-arid, smallholder dairy feeding producer famers - the fodder preservation innovation targets to eventually work with the over 10,000 smallholder farmers situated among the 6 (six) (Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Machakos, Makueni, Kitui and Taita Taveta) lower eastern semi-arid Counties in Kenya. 

To achieve its main objective, this initiative will be looking to offer sustainable silage and supply to smallholder dairy farmers, agro dealers, aggregators, retailers and dairy cooperative networks distributed along the lower eastern ASAL regions of Kenya. 

Through the Kenyatta University office of the Vice Chancellor, we have expressed interest vide various written communications to the following industry actors and departments of government seeking partnerships and collaboration at different stages of product development and market validation; 

• Kenya Industrial Research and Development (KIRDI) - research partner in the designing, prototyping and testing.
• Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS) – product / testing for silage (feed) product palatability
• Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) - IP Rights / product patenting
• Katheri & Kaiti dairy cooperative farmers - beneficiary community 
•  Meru and Makueni county governments - owners of devolved policy
• Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) - research partner / Advisory Services on certified drought tolerant crop varieties
•  Kenya Power & Lighting Company - partner in last phase of energy conversions / solar, bio gas regulatory support.

In the exit phase, the innovation will seek to mainly entrench household-based energy conversions from the existing main grid energy powered fodder chopping units into Solar powered vacuum processing outfits.

The innovation shall build on the existing dairy value chain input support systems by creating linkages between the small-scale dairy farmers located in the rural villages of Kenya and key power supply players such as Kenya Power Lighting Company of Kenya, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), Gosolar Kenya, The Green Camel Investments ltd etc.

The energy household conversion component of the innovation will be highly in tune with the Kenya government similarly sponsored activities such as referenced under Kenya Daily Nation Newspaper;

 ‘’Kenya Power set to spend Sh4.3bn on off-grid solar, Thursday, December 29, 2022. Kenya Power will spend Sh4.31 billion to retrofit 18 of its diesel-powered off-grid stations with solar to lower costs.

The hybrid systems enable the displacement of expensive thermal generation with cheaper and cleaner renewable energy, reduction of carbon emissions and boost power supply reliability, said the utility.'' The project will be funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

The main objective of this initiative will be to complement success stories and other technological advancement efforts put across by other development players to sustainably entrench proven factors of environmental resilience and adaptation.  

Dr. Mary Otieno - Project Lead, is a renown researcher in the area of community-based development initiatives and Senior Lecturer in Educational Management, Policy & Curriculum Studies, School of Education, Kenyatta University - KU | Kenya

She takes lead in overall Project design, Monitoring & Evaluation,
Drafting policy recommendations targeted at improving operational relationships between dairy farmer cooperatives and their respective county governments departments of cooperatives and livestock development who are owners of policy. 

She is also a distinguished publisher on various research-based evidences and a member of KU Directorate of Research Support and Dissemination. The Directorate’s purpose is to support researchers at all levels to conduct high quality research that is relevant to societal needs and competitive globally. Research being one of the key focus areas at KU that powers innovation, support academic activities, generates revenue, and enhances relevance and visibility of the university.

Ms. Patience Mueni, is a student Intern from Kenyatta University School of Environmental Studies pursuing a Bachelor of Environmental Science and Education. She hails from Mwala District, Machakos County, which is one among the six semi-arid lands under this initiative's long term scope of operation.

She has since taken lead in creating a working link between Machakos Dairy Cooperative and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). This collaboration is enabling the community to seamlessly inquire about various improved climatic tolerant grasses and seeds from the premier institution of research in Kenya

Ms. Magdaline Wambui Mwangi, is a BSC in Water and Environmental Engineering graduate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya. 

She is actively engaged in product development progress at the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI). 

Her key role within the project is to communicate the benefits of household energy-based conversions at the homestead level. Deepening the gradual reduction of Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) at the semi-arid level.  

Mr. John Gichuru, takes lead in driving farmer and related stakeholder field activities. He hails from Katheri location of Meru County which also forms part of beneficiary community in respect to this project.

Previously John has worked for USDA - Kenya Semi-Arid Livestock Enhancement Support / (K-SALES) - Land-O-Lakes Project (Meru, Tharaka Nithi & Kitui) Counties, as Project Field Coordinator. 

His other roles were as follows; 

Organizing stakeholder workshops to enhance productivity and deepen trade in the livestock and meat value chain (including by-products), with specific focus on cattle sheep and goats

 Supervising baseline survey activities to establish gaps within the meat value chain and compiling reports based on milestones achievements

 Mobilizing stakeholders to attend different training sessions in the 3 Counties of the project

 Establishing linkages with selected financial service providers to facilitate access to financial enterprises within the livestock and meat value chains

 Organizing learning tours to GMP facilities such as abattoirs, processors and value addition premier institutions

 Coordinating collection of primary by-products such as Hooves, Horns, Bones, Hides/Skins etc. and sourcing for both local and export market

 Organizing regular stakeholder workshops and progress review roundtables    

Baseline survey exercise was concluded and two semi-arid based groups of organized dairy feeding farmer cooperatives were included as part of product development phase

The innovation has also Partnered with Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (KIRDI) for the actual product prototyping. 

The mandate of Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) is to undertake research, development and innovation in industrial and allied technologies and disseminate research findings to support industrial development. To achieve this mandate KIRDI implements the following functions: - 

• Undertake research, development and innovation in industrial and allied technologies in: civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, textile technology, industrial chemistry, food technology, ceramics and clay technology, power resources, mining technology, leather technology, natural products technology and emerging technologies.

The key objective is to improve the post-harvest handling capacities of 3,700 dairy feeding farmers who form memberships of the Meru and Makueni County-based cooperative membership to practice environmentally sustainable and climate-smart agriculture as a business in inclusive value chains. 

The initiative is sustainably creating a working linkage with the grassroots dairy feeding farmers, the academia and related industry players such as the Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (KIRDI), Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) and the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), through roundtable engagements and all-inclusive exposure tours.  

Ms. Patience Mueni a student intern from KU benefits from broad spectrum exposure through hands-on involvement in various semi-arid dairy feed producer activities, which is in partial fulfillment of award of Bachelors of Science Degree in Environmental Science and Education.  

Leveraging on Solve's Global Network of Innovators, access to over 300,000 platform users, 200,000 email subscribers and 55,000 social media followers is a key motivation driving our active participation in the Become a Solver challenge.   

In accordance to Ann Rapp | Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation observation: ''Solve's experience at sourcing diverse candidates, managing the process from marketing through grant disbursement, and helping to clarify and crystalize a challenge prompt were benefits to contracting with Solve, rather than other innovation challenge or running our open RFP'' - Silo Pack Innovation Team find more value in participating in such an organized and structured scientific forum. 

Solve ability to connect solutions with a suite of tested and proven providers of specialized service and support program such as capacity-building, workshops on topics ranging from impact metrics and Theory of Change to participatory design, executive leadership, coaching, and peer-to-peer networking is another factor of consideration. 

Other factors advising Silo Pack participation include the following;

a) Market validation support - Joining MIT Solve Global Challenges powerful network of impact-minded industry leaders will ease the solar powered vacuuming technology product delivery phase through mentorship, business coaching and strategic advice from industry experts by exposing the initiative to media and other marketing platforms as an added benefits.

b) Grants  - the MIT Solve powerful network platform will expose the dairy feed initiative to the very necessary financial support through grants which will be used to settle product design and fabrication costs at the Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (KIRDI) - where product testing process is currently underway. 

d) Angel investors - joining Solve will accord the initiative an opportunity to pitch the localized animal fodder preservation idea to internationally recognized investor who would be interested in buying equity in the solar powered fodder preservation enterprise. This interaction will impact more on resources required during product development process.

e) Quantitative product-market fit validation - Solve network experts will be best placed to offer advisory on product tracking metrics such as growth rate, retention rate, churn rate, revenue and profitability, and Net Promoter Score (NPS). This contribution will help Silo Pack Solutions group envision growth rate which measures the user base expansion over time and across different segments and channels.

Silo Pack envision tremendous growth into launching it's own Innovation Challenge in the future. Therefore, MIT Solve Team are best positioned in offering such support towards deep understanding of Organizational Social Impact Objectives and Designing Innovation Challenge tailored to meet immediate community goals. 

The major concept uniqueness is in the localization of mechanization processes to package and preserve silage by small holder famers from the backyard of their homesteads. The overall fodder vacuuming technology is intended at eliminating the current traditional poor packaging methods where farmers use their feet or payloaders to compress raw forage to avail airtight environment necessary for silage packaging and preservation.

There are no other similar fodder packaging methods currently under use by diary feeding famers in the six lower eastern semi-arid Counties in Kenya. There exist only Chaff Cutter machines, powered on either Diesel of main grid electricity. 

Tractor Propelled fodder harvesting machines are a preserve of the ranchers and well established dairy farmers mainly situated along the East African Rift Valley, where rainfall is sufficient throughout the year. 

Localizing small-scale solar powered vacuum packaging machines will enable semi-arid farmers plan when to plant and optimally harvest baby corn and sorghum forage products for the purposes of household based fodder processing and preservation.

Dairy fodder market dynamics will improve owing to a fact that the small-scale silage processing initiative will stimulate production of corn and sorghum by neighboring rain sufficient Counties of Laikipia, Kiambu, Nakuru and Nyandarua for subsequent supply to dairy cooperative farmers located in the rain insufficient lower eastern Counties in Kenya. 

1. Product Development phase includes establishing data in support of initiating two Fodder Value Addition machines located at the local dairy farmer processing plants. These two points once in operation will stimulate value chain support from other actors such as suppliers of farm inputs, agro-dealers, research institutions and development partners..... 

e.g. ''Through the Feed the Future Kenya Project, USAID helped Kaiti Dairy
Cooperative transition from manual to digital record keeping. This means more efficient operations, which translates to more farmer earnings.

During this difficult period of rising food costs, we’re supporting Kenyan manufacturing. USAID is Kenya’s largest funding partner during this food crisis, having committed over $374 million so far this year which is over 80% of all funds coming to Kenya for this crisis.

Visit usaid.gov/Kenya for more information on how #westandwithKenya #TunasimamaNaKenya #foodcrisis #USAID''  - USAID

2. In the next phase the innovation will be seeking to mainly entrench household-based energy conversions from the existing main grid energy powered fodder chopping units into Solar powered vacuum processing outfits.

The innovation shall build on the existing dairy value chain input support systems by creating linkages between the small-scale dairy farmers located in the rural villages of Kenya and key power supply players such as Kenya Power Lighting Company of Kenya, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), Gosolar Kenya, The Green Camel Investments ltd etc.

The energy household conversion component of the innovation will be highly in tune with the Kenya government similar sponsored activities as referenced under Kenya Daily Nation Newspaper; ‘’Kenya Power set to spend Sh4.3bn on off-grid solar, Thursday, December 29, 2022. Kenya Power will spend Sh4.31 billion to retrofit 18 of its diesel-powered off-grid stations with solar to lower costs. The hybrid systems enable the displacement of expensive thermal generation with cheaper and cleaner renewable energy, reduction of carbon emissions and boost power supply reliability, said the utility. The project will be funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).’’ 

The above multisectoral approach will enable the Silage Vacuum packaging initiative to sustainably diversify business operations to eventually include actual silage making, distribution and marketing to farmers, agro dealers,
aggregators, storage providers, retailers, processors, traders, exporters, technology providers and dairy cooperatives in lower eastern counties. 

3. The initiative in association with expert researchers from premier institutions of research & development in conjunction with dairy farmer cooperatives will carry out farmer trainings on fodder, dairy feeding regimes through field demos, farmer field school days etc.

UN SDG Goal 1 |End Poverty in all it's form: Silage packaging machine will enable local farmers grow and package more livestock silage products for commercial purposes. This will eventually create additional jobs among young generation and more earnings to producer farmers who may not necessarily be keeping livestock.     

UN SDG Goal 7 |Energy: Rural based dairy farmers will benefit from bio gas alternative energy conversions once the initiative roll-out zero-grazing livestock keeping system. This will reduce homestead energy bills by at least half. 

UN SDG Goal 8 |Economic Growth: Packaging of quality fodder will eventually increase milk production both for human consumption and for sale at theri respective dairy cooperative. Surplus milk will increase milk products at the processor level hence more income for members.

UN SDG Goal 9 |Infrastructure, Industrialization: Introduction of Solar Powered fodder Preservation machines into the Kenya economy will boost government 4th /5th industrial revolution efforts. 

UN SDG Goal 13 |Climate Action and Synergies: The solar powered silage vacuum preservation innovation was among the six regional winning concept showcased at the following COMESA forum by Ms. Patience Mueni; 

https://www.comesa.int/six-innovations-presented-at-the-comesa-research-forum/

The objective of introducing a solar powered fodder processing and preservation innovation, is to enable small scale farmers to practice zero grazing to reduce production of cow footprint Methane Gas (CH4), by rearing of fewer high breed milk producing cows. This is unlike current situation where farmers residing in the semi-arid lands of Kenya practice free range rearing of huge flocks of poor breed animals resulting into massive environmental degradation due to increased soil erosion, emission of excessive greenhouse gases (GHG) causing limited land for production of improved drought tolerant crops. 

According to state the Department for the ASALs & Regional Development of Kenya, the ASALs occupy over 80% of the country’s landmass. It is home to about 36% of the population, 70% of the national livestock and 90% of wildlife. The annual rainfall in semi--arid ranges between 550 mm and 850 mm per year. Temperatures are high throughout the year, with high rates of evapo-transpiration.

The single unit & cost effective solar powered fodder processing & preservation innovation will encourage farmers to embrace household conversions into renewable green energy e.g. bio-gas & solar. While Zero grazing aspect of smart agricultural practices will entrench a culture of harvesting & recycling of treated water for fodder irrigation besides the use

UN SDG Goal 15 |Biodiversity, Forests, Deforestation:  The Solar Powered innovation is aimed at creating more land for afforestation and general biodiversity improvement through establishment of zero-grazing which in return reduces soil erosion and cow footprint gases production 

UN SDG Goal 17|Partnership for the goals: Two dairy farmer cooperative from Meru and Makueni semi-arid Counties in Kenya are taking part in Product Development and are also benefiting from free Agro-advisory from Kenyatta University research teams.

Increase in milk production; farmers will realize that silage products are very palatable to their livestock hence more milk for home consumption and surplus for processing and trading at their respective milk processing plants. There will also be product diversification at the milk processing factory due to the increase in raw milk which will result to production of other value-added products such as ghee, mala, powder milk, fresh milk, yoghurt etc - for a broader market.

Cost; dairy feeding farmers will be harvesting, processing and preserving high quality at the household level therefore reducing production overheads by more than 50% due to the cost-effective nature of the simple solar operated silage machines.

Stimulate more business within the dairy value chain; the access to small unit solar powered ensiling machines will trigger high production of Maize and Sorghum by farmers residing in the neighboring rain sufficient counties for supply to farmers in the rain insufficient counties. This business activity will create a new business line of farmers who only engage in the fodder enterprise, resulting to the stocking of packaging units and related silage products by stockiest, Agro-dealers and related input suppliers.

This quality dairy feed initiative is in tune with the just concluded Food Trade Coalition for Africa Annual General Assembly (March 27th - 28th, 2023) in Lusaka Zambia - whose priorities are as follows;

1. Policy influencing: a. Agricultural Data Systems – data is critical and its importance magnified by the challenges faced over the last few years

b. Standards and Food Safety – standards are the biggest impediment to the movement of food in Africa

c. The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement – presents a critical opportunity for Africa to increase its food security and improve the livelihoods of millions 

2. Learning and thought leadership: a. Creating a trusted space for stakeholders in the food trade ecosystem to share challenges and lessons, and co-create solutions

The above Food-Trade-Coalition-for-Africa policy guideline is proof that well produced, packaged and preserved animal feeds can better penetrate the Africa free trade market. 

Mobile Phone based App - the dairy fodder preservation initiative has partnered with Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (KIRDI) in building a Fodder Moisture Monitoring Tool aimed at informing cooperative farmers product fermentation progress. 

Mobile Technology country coverage  surveys conducted by Kenyan Safaricom Tech Company, applying various PRO tools and nPerf user apps, have shown that a majority of dairy farmers who are part of registered milk processing cooperatives, own mobile phones operating on at least 3G coverage capacities. These are tests conducted in real conditions, directly in the field, based on network coverage data or nPerf tests (bitrate, latency, browsing, video streaming) in CSV format for use by other industry players and stakeholders.

The mobile-based Litmus Paper Scanner Tool will be used to monitor levels of Lactic Acid production when the sugars in the forage are undergoing fermentation by bacteria in sealed (airtight) conditions. 

Use of mobile-based apps in product moisture content testing will enable diary producer farmers to optimally harvest forage at proper maturity (58% - 68%): if moisture levels are higher, packaging pressure is reduced to  avoid creating mushy, silage. If moisture levels slip below 65%, packing pressure is increased to avoid product deterioration. 

The purpose of the forage monitoring tool during fermentation is to keep the dairy cooperative farmers interlinked and informed about the 'ensiling' progress on their fodder preservation process at their respective cooperative ensiling Centre.

Forage conserved and continuously monitored this way is known as 'ensiled forage' or 'Silage'. Silage animal feed products will keep for up to 3-5yrs without deteriorating. Silage is very palatable to livestock and can be fed at any time.     

A Start-Up affiliated to Kenyatta University, Chandaria Business Innovation & Incubation Centre (CBIIC).

Kenyatta University | Directorate of Innovation Incubation & University Linkages (IIUIL) | http://www.ku.ac.ke/iiuil/ 

Product development is meant to create linkage between grassroots dairy feeding producer farmers and research institutions / other stakeholder communities for business innovation & continuity. 

Women-led Initiative - the project lead Dr. Mary Otieno is by extension affiliated to Kenyatta University, Women Economic Empowerment Hub - KU WEE HUB, whose fundamental vision mission statement is to provide a Kenyan society free from gender inequalities with economically empowered women through the provision of research-based evidence on advancement of women's economic empowerment in Kenya.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation analysis for the gender data strategy refresh, the analysis of women economic empowerment (WEE) global architecture and the scoping of the evidence landscape by McKinsey and Stanford surfaced the following problems and issues on data and evidence for WEE engagement and decision-making:

• There is a lack of data and evidence on women’s economic empowerment which impedes analysis of what matters, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ability to design solutions to close gaps.

In this context, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation revised gender data strategy (2019) continues to place emphasis on building program and policy evidence on ‘what works’ to drive decision-making. The dairy farmer cooperative will continue to fill evidence gaps and deepen intra-county research and evaluation in focal geographies to advance women’s economic empowerment. This includes a focus for evaluative research on testing and informing devolved county policies and programs shaping women’s access to decent employment opportunities and entrepreneurship, and addressing constraints to work (such as unpaid care and domestic work, or occupational sex segregation).

In keeping with diversity, equity and inclusion goals,  the Team Lead will design tools and methodologies that will build demand for evidence and promote uptake of findings, building on strong relationships with key county departments of livestock production, related state actors and agencies, to identify and help scale successful solutions for women, youth and PWDs Economic Empowerment. The dairy fodder cooperative based initiative will aim to further strengthen the evidence ecosystem for women, youth and PWDs active inclusion in the livestock feed sub-sector in the devolved counties by packaging and disseminating evidence; helping key stakeholders such as practitioners, governments and donors adapt and adopt findings; investing in local institutions to build research and evaluation capacity; encouraging engagement by civil society and advocacy groups; and involving local and regional philanthropists in the evidence agenda to ensure sustainability.

Building on the ongoing landscaping of programs/policies and evidence conducted by Stanford in Kenya, this dairy cooperative based initiative will help sharpen focus on key evidence gaps and open empirical questions, as well as policies/programs that are at scale or of interest to government partners. By building and synthesizing stakeholder community of actionable evidence for all-inclusive economic empowerment.

In the long run the innovation intends to diversify its current research and development operations to include silage making, distribution and marketing to farmers, agro dealers, aggregators, storage providers, retailers, processors, traders, exporters, technology providers and dairy cooperatives in Makueni County. The innovation in collaboration with dairy cooperatives will carry out farmer trainings on fodder, dairy feeding regimes through field demos, farmer field schools.

The initiative also intends to enhance its partnership with dairy farmers, research and training organizations, County government, NGOs such as KARLO, ATCs, farmer groups and associations and dairy cooperatives. The partnership is aimed at enhancing collaboration in research, farmer trainings, marketing and promotional activities.

The overall challenge that the initiative will be addressing is the limited knowledge on the importance, adoption and use of Silage by smallholder farmers in feeding their cows. The working relationship with other stakeholders will enhance quality, adoption, use, distribution and marketing of silage while complimenting the use of quality hay.

This will enhance reliable and sustainable access to quality silage and hay by smallholder dairy farmers and whereas working on this, other social and economic challenges will be addressed specifically low integration of women and youth in the dairy value chain in Meru and Makueni semi-arid based Counties.

• Project Goal & Approach:

To achieve its main objective, the innovation Team will be looking to offer sustainable silage and supply to smallholder dairy farmers, agro dealers, aggregators, retailers and dairy cooperatives in Makueni County. To accomplish this, the company will undertake several activities as well as scaling up some of existing activities.

• Marketing and distribution

The Team will invest in reliable distribution channels to make the silage more accessible to smallholder farmers through member’s cooperatives and wide pool of agro dealers. The initiative will also work with organized farmers, farmer groups and departments of agriculture and livestock in the County governments.

The innovation will recruit and train champion farmers to directly distribute hay and silage to other smallholder farmers in their locality. The champion farmer will also be equipped with training knowledge on fodder management, feeding practices to further offer the same training to other dairy farmers.

• Farmers extension services

The Team while working with stakeholders in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock will help capacity build smallholder farmer’s knowledge on dairy farming best practices. This includes, fodder production and management, proper feeding regime (a demonstration plot to be established for fodder production training, farmer field schools, field demonstrations) to improve on fodder management and feeding practices.

The initiative will establish 24 demonstration sites where farmers can learn the different types of fodder grass and silage. This will be established in partnership with the dairy cooperatives in the initial two (Meru, Makueni) Counties of operation.

 Engagement with agro dealers/input distributers

Through working with agro dealers, storage providers and stockiest, the innovation Team will work with over 80 agro dealers to stock and distribute silage to smallholder farmers.

It is anticipated that the project will largely embrace the existing agro-dealer and related input distributer networks for growth into neighboring four other semi-arid Counties of Kitui, Tharaka Nithi, Machakos, Taita Taveta.

Project returns (within 11 months): Out of the overall number of initial 3,700 farmers in the two dairy farmer cooperatives of Katheri in Meru and Kaiti in Makueni, it is assumed that an initial 1,500 farmers will access high quality and affordable silage products packaged in 50kg bags at KES 350 per bag. This is 60% of the targeted household within the two Counties. Each household with estimated 3 dairy animals will purchase 3bags per week for their animals as per breakdown follows:

 Weekly (3bags x ksh.350 = ksh.1,050),   Annually (ksh.1,050 x 52weeks = ksh.54,600per year)

 (ksh.54, 600 per household x 1,500hseholds = ksh.81, 900,000)

 Less overhead costs; Operational costs. 50% x ksh.81.900, 000 = ksh.40, 950,000

 Distribution costs 30% x ksh.40, 950,000 = ksh.12, 285,000

 Government taxes & levies 25% x (ksh.40, 950,000 – ksh.12, 285,000) =

(25% x ksh.28, 665,000= ksh.7, 166,000). Activity returns; (ksh.28, 665,000 – ksh.7, 166,000 = ksh.21, 499,000)

We anticipate to breakeven in the improved fodder enterprise within 11 months into operation.

Kenya University - Chandaria Business Innovation and Incubation (CBIIC)  has been the initiative's main financial partner to date, offering an initial 1,107.42 United States Dollar towards Product Research and Development process which is currently in progress at the Kenya Industrial Research & Development (KIRDI) labs - https://www.kirdi.go.ke/ - 

KIRDI has partnered with the innovation at a subsidized Prototyping and Fabrication cost of 11326.0633 USD. 

The mandate of Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) is to undertake research, development and innovation in industrial and allied technologies and disseminate research findings to support industrial development. 

To achieve this mandate KIRDI implements the following functions: - 

• Undertake research, development and innovation in industrial and allied technologies in: civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, textile technology, industrial chemistry, food technology, ceramics and clay technology, power resources, mining technology, leather technology, natural products technology and emerging technologies.