Getting One’s Goat: Boosting family income one goat at a time
For communities in Baringo, hunger is part of the landscape. Drought, conflict and lack of resources began to starve people, not only of food but of hope.
ActionAid partnered with community members to instigate a dairy goat breeding project. Goats eat mostly forage and waste, meaning they are inexpensive to keep. And a healthy goat will produce enough nutrient-rich milk to sustain a family.
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The project boosted local milk production, reducing malnutrition and diseases that occur as a result of hunger in children, women and the elderly. Since goats often produce enough extra milk to sell, the project also boosted family incomes.
“This community embraced this project because they couldn’t get enough milk due to the dryness and lack of vegetation in the area, yet they wanted to minimize the problem of malnutrition and other diseases,” says Jane Kigen, ActionAid’s Programme Coordinator, in Barwessa, a community in Baringo district.
A core group of 16 farmers piloted the project. They started by visiting successful projects in nearby communities. Each farmer was given one female Tokenburg goat to begin and one male goat was shared between every two farmers.
The Tokenburgs produce more milk than goats typically raised in the region and easily adapt to the local terrain. In addition, these goats mature in less than eight months compared to the local ones which take more than a year.
“I got tired rearing local goats because they too long to mature and had very little milk, which was only seasonal,” says Ben Mengich, a teacher by profession who is among the first beneficiaries of the project.
“We get more than a litre of milk everyday which we sell to our neighbours. This project has boosted our income. I am now able to purchase household items without waiting for my husband to give me money,” says Lydia Kangongo, Mengich’s wife.
Each of the 16 initial recipients passed a goat on to a new group member as the goats give birth. As a result, the project continues to grow exponentially. Now, Barwessa serves as a learning model for other communities.
