Moi University is partnering with the Italian Government to set up a centre of excellence for dairy farming in Africa at the university’s farm at main campus in Eldoret.

The centre is to comprise a dairy farm and a bio-gas production centre that will generate 1.5MW of electricity.

A delegation from SACE, an Italian Government institution mandated to help partner countries get funding for identified projects, on Wednesday November 4, 2015 made an excursion tour of the farm where the two projects are to be established in company of the university’s top notch administrators.

The projects are an outcome of a bilateral agreement between the Governments of Kenya and Italy that was signed in Milan, Italy, early this year.

 
“We are very excited about the project. We are here to identify the location where the center of excellence is going to be,” said Luca Goldoni.

Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) Managing Director, Mr. David Kimasop, who is one of the projects’ key stakeholders, said the centre will train young graduates on hands-on dairy farming.

“We expect that in the next five years, the centre will have capacity to produce more than one million litres of milk per day. The young graduates will work as extension officers who will help spread the best dairy farming practices in the region and Kenya at large,” said Mr. Kimasop.

 
Mr. Kimasop noted that the project will later be expanded to house a heifer breeding centre to address the existing gap in the region.

 
Source: www.mu.ac.ke