Margaret Ruguru, a dairy farmer, recently shared her decision to get into milk processing.
In an interview, she mentioned that she started dairy farming more than two decaded ago, when marketing her produce was not difficult.
Ruguru’s success as an entrepreneur can be attributed to her job position at one of Murang’a’s dairy cooperatives which provided her with a market niche for her products.
“I started with one cow and gradually increased the herd,” she recalls.
Ruguru took up dairy farming to supplement her income but things became worse when she lost her job in 2007.
She recalls selling milk locally, particularly after one of her customers, a hotel, terminated the contract.
“The management claimed they had a lot of cows calving, so the milk problem was solved,” she claimed.
Ruguru would try to sell up to 200 litres of milk each day but she would lose a huge amount of money when such a vast quantity is not marketable.
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According to Ruguru, because of the volume, farmers who are unable to sell their milk may feed it to domestic animals.
To salvage her business, she persisted in seeking aid from the Murang’a County Livestock Department, which eventually granted it.
“An officer who later became my mentor connected me with Mariira Agricultural Show Farm in Murang’a, a facility that offers training in dairy production, including milk processing,” she said.
Ruguru learnt how to make yogurt with a group of 50 farmers in 2016 as part of a collaboration with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
Eight years later, Ruguru and her husband operate Sky Blue Farmlands, a yogurt manufacturing firm that has helped them cut their losses from selling raw milk.
Highlands produces two flavours of probiotic yoghurt; strawberry and vanilla.
Their business is based on a 100 by 80-metre area of land that includes a milk processing factory, cows, improved indigenous hens, fish and fodder crops.
Her main market is wholesale, which includes supermarkets and food and beverage stores.
Ruguru promotes her products through many channels, including agricultural fairs.
