By Joshua Kato
In Luwafu, Makindye division, Kampala a herd of clean, white goats munch away at fermented feed, commonly known as silage.
The white goats are housed in wooden/timber structures inside an incomplete bungalow. The structures are raised by at least a foot off the ground.
This is at Kanyes Dairy Farm, an enterprise dealing in goats. The farm was started in 2018 with two dairy goats, Juliet Kanyesigye, the proprietor, says.
The farm now has 18 goats. The goats are of the Sanen breed, which Kanyesigye says, are not common in Uganda and cost sh1m.
“I decided to keep them because I wanted more than just milk. I wanted to benefit from the other products from milk,” she says.
Imelda Kasolo, a doctor, says goat milk is perhaps the best one after human milk.
“It is a source of protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins. It can actually be used as a feeding supplement for severely malnourished patients,” she says.
Kanyesigye says each of the goats yields an average of one litre per day. Of the 18 goats, 10 are milking and the others are gestating.
This is a purely zero-grazing enterprise, so the goats do not go out to scavenge for feeds.
“We feed them on silage and brewers’ waste,” she adds. Each of the goats is also given at least 20 litres of water per day. To keep disease at bay, the shelter is kept clean.
Deciding to add value
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the enterprise expanded into value addition.
“We had a lot of milk and yet movement was restricted. I had to find a way of improving its shelf life,” she says.
Kanyesigye says she read a lot about value addition on goat milk.
“I found out that goat milk has several values including medicinal. It can be used to cleanse the skin, which is made up of selenium which is present in goat milk.”
Convinced about value addition, she sought the services of a professional chemist.
“We did many tests until we came up with the best formulae for the soap and lotion,” she says.
Other ingredients involved in processing include palm kernel oil, coconut oil and lemon perfume.
After processing, they are packed in different-sized containers, ready for the market.
The products under the brand name Kanyes Goats Milk Lotion and Kanyes Goats Milk Soap have also been tested at the Uganda National Bureau of Standard.
Earnings
A litre of fresh milk goes for sh9,000. To process 500 pieces of soap, Kanyesigye uses 45 litres of milk.
Each of the pieces goes for sh15,000. This means that Kanyesigye gets a gross of sh7.5m from 45 litres of milk.
On the other hand, if she had sold the milk raw, she would have earned about sh400,000.
