By Joshua Kato
Dennis Nijhof is one unique dairy farmer in the Netherlands. Unless most of his fellow farmers, he produces milk organically!
However, while most organic farmers for example in Uganda suffer from low quality and quantities, Nijhof is satisfied with his cows.
“I have a cow that produces 55 litres of milk per day, but the average production per cow is 35 litres,” he says.
Comparatively, the average production of Uganda’s improved dairy cows, kept under a non-organic system is less than 10 litres.
“When we say organic, it means that we use no industrial farm inputs for example acaricides. We are using organic measures most of which are generated and processed at the farm,” he explains.
This farm was the first point of visit for the 2020 Best Farmers who are currently touring the Netherlands. The group of 13 winners left for the Netherlands on Saturday, October 7.
“I am inspired to start practising my dairy organically. I was scared that if I don’t use chemicals, production will be low but this farmer has shown me that it is possible,” said Gloria Rwamafa, a zero-grazing dairy farmer from Kira, Wakiso district.
Phillip Kalera, a large-scale dairy farmer in Gomba was amazed by the attention to detail and hygiene at the farm.
“With this level of cleanliness and adoption of machines to ease work, nobody can doubt about the quality of the milk produced,” he said.
