The construction and equipping of a state of the art milk processing plant in Embu County has started.
Making the announcement, Embu Governor Martin Wambora said the project will cost Kshs 300 Million thus stepping up efforts at value addition in the dairy sector in the county. The plant will be located in Ugweri.
Speaking in Embu, Governor Wambora said the county government chose Ugweri due to its close proximity to major milk producing areas of the county.
The plant will process long life milk, fresh milk, yoghurt, mala, ghee and butter Embu’s dairy industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, in tandem with the rising demand for processed milk driven by a growing middle class.
Embu County is a big producer of dairy products in the Mt Kenya region.
Set on a 3.5-acre piece of land, the plant will have a capacity of processing 48,000 liters of milk daily. The county government will deploy equipment for Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT) and Extended Shelf Life (ESL).
He expressed confidence that the plant will be capable to produce enough milk to supply pupils under the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) in the entire county.
“The state-of-the-art facility will utilize the most current technology available to the market becoming one of the newest processing facility in the county” Governor Wambora added.
CEC Agriculture Ms. Annie Nyaga said that the Embu County Government has already installed 13 coolers in collaboration with the national government and is in the process of installing 10 more with a total capacity of 65,000 liters of milk per day.
“The county government has also mobilized over 16 milk co-operatives who are already selling milk as a result of installing the coolers,” she said adding that plans are underway to install another 13 milk coolers in the next financial year.
All the coolers are located in major dairy keeping areas of the county and will supply milk to the processing plant at competitive prices.
The plant will also supply its branded poly pack milk variants for consumers across the Mt Kenya region.
“We hope that our efforts will help us in developing a strong and sustainable eco- system for both farmers as well as consumers” Annie added.