By Zablok Oyugi
Isiolo Tawakal Farmers Marketing Co-operative Society is a beacon of hope for over 300 camel farmers in Kenya’s Isiolo County. This social enterprise owned by a group of 25 women members and 10 youth who are engaged in camel milk and meat (nyirinyiri) processing is a living testimony of how far a simple initiative such as a merry-go-round can lift the fortunes of a community.
The group started as a merry-goround practising table banking way back in 1997 and they would later be given a piece of land by the local government to conduct their activities. “This was, to us, an important stepping stone in our enterprise journey as we stated utilising this space to do livestock business where we bought goats, sheep and cattle among others from the local communities in Isiolo to sell to the neighbouring county of Meru,” said Amina Hassan, the group’s chairperson. Things did not stop there.
An opportunity would emerge for the group in camel milk and their activities shifted to buying camel milk from local farmers and selling in Nairobi through two group members who were based in the city. “This has since become a major breakthrough in our business and an area of specialisation as we have become among the top aggregators and processors of camel milk in Isiolo with an established market in Nairobi,” said Amina.
Why camel milk value chain
Ali Noor Mohamed who helps the group with resource mobilisation and financial management says they identified the business opportunity because of the rising demand in camel milk and meat due to its nutritional and medicinal values. “We realised that many customers, especially in Nairobi, started asking more of camel milk because we understand it has low levels of sugar and cholesterol and high amounts of vitamins and minerals, such as potassium,” said Noor.
A 2021 review by National Library of Medicine found camel milk is rich in health-beneficial substances, such as bioactive peptides, lactoferrin, zinc, and mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Camel meat is believed by Somali and Indian people to have remedial effects for health disorders such as hyperacidity, hypertension, or pneumonia. Isiolo Tawakal Farmers Marketing Co-operative Society aggregates milk from the interior parts of Isiolo County and sells mainly in Eastleigh business district in Nairobi and locally.
“We are currently doing 700 litres of milk per day in the dry season but this can increase up to 2,000 litres in rainy seasons,” said Noor. They source camel meat from a slaughter house in Isiolo at Ksh500 per kilo.
“From the slaughterhouse, we remove the fatty parts and sun-dry the meat before packaging it for market. From our premises located in Isiolo Town, we supply 40kgs to Nairobi on a daily basis or as per demand,” Amina said.
Support
The group previously received support in the form of freezers, ice cream machines and milk pasteuriser from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Kuza, an Associate Award under the Feed the Future Kenya Livestock Market Systems Activity through ACDI/ VOCA among other partners. USAID Kuza has also supported the group with construction of the house for the milk aggregation and provided a 500-litre capacity cooler. This has opened opportunity in value addition. The group is now processing camel milk into yoghurt and mala and camel meat into longlife healthy meat (nyirinyiri).
“This has offered us a wide market reach even as we continue to find better ways to package our products for the commercial market,” said Muhideen Musa, who supports the group in community mobilisation and maintaining relationship with farmers. The group sources camel milk from over 300 camel farmers in rural parts of Isiolo which is transported to Isiolo Town using motorcycles (boda bodas).
“We buy, from farmers, a litre of camel milk at Ksh80-100 depending on seasons. We then pasteurize the milk and keep it in cold storage
awaiting transportation to Nairobi, Eastleigh area,” said Noor. In Nairobi, they sell a litre of milk at Ksh120–150 based on prevailing prices. Currently they are selling 700 litres daily. During rainy seasons the production goes up to 2,000 litres per day. The group has progressed to processing camel milk into chocolate, ice cream and sweets (peremende).
Their camel milk yoghurt retails at Ksh120 per 250ml. These products have, however, not been launched into the market and production is on a small scale for the local market. They transport 40 kilos per day to Nairobi for sale every day or depending on demand. The processed meat is sold at Ksh1,200 per kilo. “Our group members are from the locality thus have the advantage of knowing the area very well and where to source for good raw products are.
They can also win Muslim trust being the highest component of their target market,” said Musa. Their customers include walk-ins, restaurants, and institutions such as army barracks, schools and colleges in Isiolo.
They have verbal contractual agreements with buyers in Nairobi Eastleigh who serve as constant customers. “Demand for camel milk especially in the Nairobi Eastleigh area is huge and has not been fully exploited,” said Noor. There are also new markets from non-camel rearing communities as a result of both the nutritional and medicinal values associated with camel milk. The group aims to eventually sell its products in supermarkets after relevant certification and proper packaging to reach wider markets. They are also aiming at increasing the numbers of farmers they work with from the current 300 to 500 farmers in the near future. Being a registered enterprise, Tawakal Farmers Marketing Co-Operative Society members receive dividends based on returns made.
The group has already obtained the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certification for Nyinyiri production and is in the process to secure licences for the other products. Noor sad they support women to venture into business and other income-generating activities. “Training the women on production hygiene and link to the market improves the living standards of many households from the region,” he said. Challenges “I can say the business has experienced growth since its establishment except in 2020 when it was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic that affected sales in main market in Eastleigh which are mainly hotels,” said Amina.
Another challenge is transporting their products, some of which are perishable, to the markets given Isiolo is a far-flung county and there are few service providers along the route to Nairobi. “Currently, we are relying on a lorry owned by another co-operative to transport the products to Nairobi every day. This is sometimes expensive as we have to work with their schedule,” said Amina.
The group is also operating with inadequate working capital and has been forced to seek financing to enable it open an outlet in their current facility where they can directly sell to the end consumer. The current delivery model heavily relies on middle-men (other retailers) especially for the Nairobi market thus offering no direct route to the end consumer.
“There are also several groups mushrooming in Isiolo trying to implement the same model of delivering milk and Nyirinyiri to Eastleigh,” said Amina, adding that their new business model will also focus on creating stronger customer relationships, acquiring new customers, retaining the existing ones, and boosting sales. They face competition from Anolei Women Dairy Camel Marketing Cooperative Society and several other groups involved in the camel milk and meat value chain. Diseases and bad weather can also affect production.