The Kenyan dairy market is set for a major paradigm shift with the entry of Polish technology in the country, as the European state partners with the government to boost output in the sector.
Polish company- FASPOL SP.Z.O.O is installing 350 ultra-modern milk cooling machines in the country, aimed at improving milk processing and handling along the value chain.
The project which is currently underway was initiated by the government of Kenya in December last year, with an investment tag of $22.5 million (about Ksh2.27 billion) targeting milk producing counties.
According to Faspol CEO Marcin Kaleta, the company has already shipped 180 out of the 350 coolers, with more than 50 coolers already installed.
“Every installation can freeze 3,000 litres of milk in two hours. Generally every cooler will freeze 6,000 litres of milk daily,” Kaleta said “It means, that 350 installations has daily capacity of 2.1 million liters of milk daily.”
The official deadline for the project according to the contract is June 2019, but Faspol is optimistic it can complete setting up the coolers eight months earlier.
“We will close this project on October 2018,” Kaleta said in an interview.
Farmers in Embu and Uasin Gishu counties, among the 35 targeted counties, have already benefited from the project having received the coolers last year.
The project also includes installation of solar water heaters, 30 kVA power generators, two condensing units per cooler and stainless steel equipment like flow meter.
The industrial, agriculture and food manufacturing focused firm has also set up the Faspol East Africa LTD, which focuses on food processing and food storage in general.
The company offers milk chilling and bulking facilities, milking machines, liquid nitrogen plant, milk quality testing machines, cold storage facilities for meat, fish, potatoes and horticultural produce as well as embryo transfer equipment, grain storage silos and mobile grain driers.
“We have wide variety of machines in our offer,” the CEO said adding the company has chosen Kenya because of its potential to grow.
“Kenya is a very good market for Polish companies. We truly believe that Kenya is developing very much and we want to be part of it with our good products,” Kaleta said.
Kenya has 47 counties where agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, industrial manufacturing, energy, tourism and financial services are major economic activities.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is counting on the investment in the dairy sub-sector to improve earnings for farmers and the agriculture sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.
Apart from the dairy sub-sector benefitting from equipment and expert training from Poland, the country will gain from a $100.9 million concessional loan for a food security programme.
The dairy project is aimed at helping the country follow in the footsteps and success story of Poland, which is the second biggest dairy market in Europe.
Its dairy sector has flourished under cooperatives, a similar module being used in Kenya.
The Polish embassy in Kenya recently said its government plans to instill a new way of handling the dairy sector, with a five year plan that will substantially improve the lives of farmers and benefit the country at large.
Source: The Exchange