BUSINESS PLAN

Proposer: Murithi Karugi Mutegi

Title: Dairy Goat Production.
Business Name: Greenleaf Nyumbani

Address; Pobox 8 Chuka

Email: greenleafconsultancy1@gmail.com
Date :
SECTION 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Profile of the proposers
Green leaf Nyumbani is a registered company based in Tharaka Nithi County. The company has
been in operation for the past 3 years. Over the years the farm has been able to gain a lot of
knowledge and skills on various aspects of goat farming such as; proper and efficient methods of
goat nutrition and feeding, goat housing, and shed construction.

Both of the farm directors are university graduates with practical knowledge of farm
management such as; the ability to plan farm finances and production to maintain farm progress
against budget parameters, practical skills such as sourcing dry feedstuff, hygienic milking,
cleaning sheds, repairing sheds, marketing farm products, arranging and maintenance of framing
buildings, knowledge of pests and diseases understanding how they spread and how to treat
them, keeping animal and farm records up to date. One of the directors holds a B Com risk
management and insurance with experience within the business sector having worked as a lead
generator at ABSA bank for 9 years where he gained skills on business development, growth
strategies, planning skills and financial acuity.

The company is a relatively young, vibrant and seeks to constantly maintain that culture. Staff
involved in running the day-to-day activities have hands-on knowledge, experience, and skills in
goat feed management and feed preservation, goat diseases, and vaccinations administered to
goats across the year, methods of disease control, goat housing shelter, and animal husbandry.
The company has adopted good human relationship principles which has kept us working
together as a team. The company has highlighted the benefits of teamwork and the problems that
the company and its customers may experience if staff doesn’t work as a team. We hire the best
people and train them thoroughly and get them excited and proud to be part of the elite team and
work together to achieve set organizational goals. Once the right workforce is recruited, it is
essential that the company creates an atmosphere in which employees aspirations can be met. An
environment where the staff feels that all their ideas are welcome is very important in a working
environment.
Business Concept

Goat milk is an excellent source of protein, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, and
vitamin A. The nutritional qualities of goat milk, are higher in fat and calories when compared to
cow milk, and it also contains more protein, vitamins, and minerals. Compared to standard cow
milk, soy milk, or nut milk, goat milk has more protein per serving. The protein in goat milk is
more digestible, meaning your body can use it more easily. Goat’s milk or goat’s milk-based
formulas are a healthy and nutritious option for babies with cow milk sensitivities, or for those
with other health concerns about cow milk. With all these benefits emanating from goat milk lies
a great opportunity for dairy goat farming to satisfy the ever-rising demand for goat dairy
products. Demand for goat milk products is increasing worldwide due to the additional
nutritional advantages of goat milk over cow milk and other dairy alternatives.

Idachaba (2000) and Anaeto et al. (2010) summarize the advantages of goat keeping; according
to them, goats are “walking factories” producing food for humans as they graze on pastures and
eat farm by-products, thus reducing the costs of weeding and feeding. They state that goats can
use feed that is difficult to consume for cattle; keeping them provides a source of income and
protein for the family faster than cows due to their short generation interval. These elements
make the dairy goat value chain a very valuable sector with very high economic and nutritional
potential for rural households, especially those with few resources.

Besides the goat milk, goat milk products are considered to have great marketing potential
(Devendra and Liang, 2012; Miller and Lu, 2019). According to Zenebe et al. (2014), fermented
goat milk incorporating live probiotic cells, represents a group of products with great prospects
in the future due to their nutritive and therapeutic properties. Furthermore, the production of
cheese made with goat milk has a very long history and is an important source of protein for
people in several countries (Yangilar, 2013).
Goats also provide farm manure, meat and income (FAO, 2011;Chenyambuga et al., 2014).
Dairy goat farming is emerging as a high-return option for Kenyan small-scale farmers, owing to
the health and nutritional benefits of the milk, as well as low production costs and ease of
management (Mbindyo et al., 2018).In Kenya, the population of dairy goats is about 200,000 and
80% of these are reared in Mount Kenya region. They provide a quick source of milk for
consumption or sale, which has an immense value especially to poor households. The small land
sizes required for their rearing are especially useful in these highly populated areas. Green leaf
nyumbani farm is involved in raising dairy goats for their goat milk, and manure and sale of goat
kids. The farm’s main market consists of local households that consume raw milk on daily basis,
goat manure’s main clients are horticultural farms that use the manure to grow crops, since dairy
goat farming is a

FINANCIAL FEATURES

FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS

The dairy goat industry is rapidly

gaining importance through-
out the world where about 80%
majority of the milk is pro-
duced in developing countries
(Boyazoglu et al. 2005;
Escareño et al. 2013). Dairy goats are
among the most impor-
tant groups of milk producing animals
in developing countries
and they form an important means of
livelihood to millions of
people in these regions (Silanikove
and Leitner 2014). The
demand of dairy goats’ milk is
increasing because of the
growing population of people, the
increasing awareness of
medicinal and nutritional status
associated with goat milk,
and also the special interest in goat
milk products, especially
cheeses and yoghurt, in many
developed countries which has
led to increasing levels of disposable
incomes (Morand-Fehr
et al. 2004; Taufik 2007). Dairy goat
has been used as source
of income and source of food (meat
and milk) especially to the
poor (Haenlein 2004).

FORM OF BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATION

ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The farm employs 2 to 5 casuals every week. With the expansion of the farm the number will
increase. In addition to the temporally casuals the farm intends to employ 7 permanent staff.
Green leaf nyumbani business operations will create more employment for women, youths the
increased household incomes will eventually lead to poverty eradication.
 Green leaf nyumbani products are affordable and very nutritious foods that contributes
positively in improving nutrition for consumers for instance the infant babies and children. This
helps to address the nutritional challenges faced by infants who need healthy life starts for them
to thrive in the society.

The farm will have a great environment impact by preventing the spread of noxious weeds which
are fed to the goats and also promote growth of local vegetative species through moderate
grazing. The farm will also save on water resource since goats are more water efficient than large
ruminants such as cattle.

RISK AND MITIGATION

Dairy goat production is playing an important role in the improvement of income of dairy
farmers, poverty and hunger alleviation, though the enterprises are still faced with numerous
risks and challenges such as diseases, unfair aggressive marketing by big companies, high cost of
feeding, influence and market interference by middlemen.

The farm will undertake market survey to determine strategies and marketing strategies and
marketing tactics being used by competitors, periodic scenario mapping will be done to forecast
market behaviors among competitors on emerging changes this will help solve unfair aggressive
marketing by large processing companies. The farm will involve in direct marketing to clients to
avoid influence and market interference by middlemen.

To control disease outbreaks periodic immunizations and proper farm management practices will
be adopted .farm staff will be trained on diseases and disease control.

To solve the high cost of feeds. . A semi-intensive system combining natural grazing with feed
supplements will be used to reduce feed cost, the farm will diversify feed resources to help meet
the high nutrient demand for milk production for producers. This will be done through
Utilization of crop residues such as green gram and cowpeas husks and agro-industrial
byproducts .this is a cost effective alternative for nutrient supply to goats. Substitution of costly
grains with agro-industrial byproducts has the potential to reduce feed costs or supply needed
feeds during the dry season when pasture is limited. Agro-industrial by products will be mixed or
ensiled to increase palatability and undesired feeding characteristics and improve feeding values.
Section 2: Business Description

Overview of the industry

Goat milk
Goat milk has always been consumed in Kenya especially by pastoral communities in the
country. Studies by Kagunyu, Lengarite, Wayua and Shibia (1996) and Boor (1984) in Marsabit
and western Kenya respectively revealed that acceptability of goat milk is not a constraint to goat
keeping since there were no cultural factors that hindered the adoption of the dairy goats. Boor
observed that if the dairy goat project is given the attention it requires it can contribute to food
security and generate income to the pastoral communities in the study area.

According to the ministry of livestock development (1980) and mbugua (1976), there is a
demand for more milk in Kenya’s rural areas. There is potential for dairy goat products
especially the raw and pasteurized milk products. This coincides with the findings of Miller and
Lu (2019) who indicate that due to increased consumers demand, high prices, and climate
change, new dairy goat industries are emerging and rapidly expanding. The demand for the dairy
goat products is high which is evident from the high ranking of its sales preference by the outlets.

The lack of customer’s awareness of the dairy goat products’ nutritional benefits
and non-availability of the dairy goat products are major factors affecting the marketing of the
dairy goat products. Thus, there is a huge potential for dairy goat products in the market that can
be exploited. Creating consumer awareness of important nutritional and health benefits of dairy
goat milk and its products is the key to capturing the existing market opportunities for dairy goat
milk and its product

Goat milk and its products are preferred for their health and nutritional benefits, including
greater digestibility and lipid metabolism, in addition to their taste, compared to cow milk

It is expected that by raising awareness among rural households about the health benefits of goat
milk consumption and enhancing goat herds' milk productivity through sound and participatory
village-based goat dairy programs, both the demand for and supply of goat milk will increase.
Such development initiatives have been successfully implemented in Kenya (Ahuya et al., 2005;
Ogola et al., 2010),

Goat manure
Traditionally, goat manure was regarded as a burden rather than a valuable output (Baars, 1999),
Kenyan agricultural soils nutrients have been seriously depleted over years (Sheldrick etal. 2003
low soil fertility is the most important constraint limiting crop productivity in sub-Saharan
Africa”(Gicheru,2012;Fischer and Qaim, 2012).Farmers in high potential areas have sought to
alleviate these shortfalls through both man- made and organic fertilizers (Gicheru, 2012), but run
into problems using man-made fertilizers because of their high costs (Heisey and Mwangi,
1996).
Substituting local farmyard manure for man-made fertilizers can be effective (Otinga et al.,
2013), but the use of their own livestock manure in these agricultural areas is limited by low
supply. (Hoffmann, 2002). Manure from the dairy goats cause substantial improvement in soil
quality, increase crop yield, hence, improve food security and income to household (Peacock
2005; Safari et al 2008; Lwelamira et al 2010).

Goat kids

To produce milk, a female goat needs to give birth at least once. The female offspring are mostly
used as replacement for the dairy herd, thus replacing older and poorer performing goats. Most
of the remaining female kids are to be sold to other dairy farms within. Fewer male kids (buck
kids) are raised to serve reproduction, resulting in a surplus number of male offspring, while the
rest of the bucks are sold locally for breeding and meat.

The company

Vision

To be the leading producer and supplier of raw and processed goat milk that meets customer
standards and satisfaction, be the go to farm for pure breeds of dairy goats.

Mission
Ensure the existence of well managed pure dairy goats’ breeds for adequate and high quality goat
milk for enhanced income to the farm.

Products

The farms main products are raw goat milk, Goat sales and manure sales

Raw milk.

Efforts will made to build the farms capacity on raw milk handling and storage hygiene ,volumes
of milks will be raised through improving quality and number of dairy The company