a young 20yr old making ripples by value addition to milk

Martin is an innocent looking boy. But
behind the innocent face is a genius
with a world of food technology all
before him. Martin has caught the
imagination of Mukurwe-ini Nyeri
county for his production of yoghurt .

Having left secondary school last year,
Martin who is 20 years of age did not
sulk in what he would do to keep
himself busy.
He got into his father’s dairy farm and
sought to add value to it. “My father
gave me a dairy cow which I would pay
slowly. I have increased its production
to more than forty litres a day. I milk
four times a day”, says Martin. But
soon, he found the father was not
really making money the way he ought
to be.

Today, Martin’s home factory processes
120 litres per week. “To add to my 40
litres, I buy the rest from my father. I
make more than 30, OOO a month. All
expenses paid. I do most of the work. I
milk, I make the yoghurt and I sell it,”.
says Martin.

Martin is joining Mt Kenya University
this September to study food science.
“I want to come back and brand my
products as I seek to add more value
to milk by making commercial cheese”,
says Martin. As young school leavers
give shamba work a wide berth, Martin
is already enjoying the fruits of dairy
farming. And his father, Charles
Njoroge, is a happy parent.

“Through
his work, I have market for all my milk.
I cannot treat milk as ‘digitally’ as he
is doing it”, says Mr. Njoroge.
Martin is joining Mt Kenya University
this September to study food science.

“I want to come back and brand my
products as I seek to add more value
to milk by making commercial cheese”,
says Martin.
This is what made him decide to make
yoghurt and sell more per liter. My
father sells a litre of milk at ksh 35.
When I make yoghurt form it, I make
an extra ksh 42 per litre, says Martin.

He learnt to make yoghurt in high
school. Today, he uses one of his
father’s kitchens’ to make yoghurt.
Luckily, we have bio gas electricity, so
it was easy for me to boil a lot of milk
at once, says Martin.

original arricle appeared on mkulimayoung.com