Having seen a lot of the FARM-Africa project around Kitui and Mwingi, it’s been great to see the successes they have achieved in a relatively short space of time. But what can happen in another five years? Today I’ve come to Meru, where the project started over ten years ago.

Having said that, the farmers up here at the foot of Mt Kenya have a different set of challenges to face. While those in Mwingi are having to deal with a crippling drought, here in Meru there is no shortage of water at all; in fact, yesterday it was even drizzling slightly. That means that feeding the goats, and themselves, is less of a challenge, although feeding the right things isn’t always easy.

One of the bucks has recently died having eaten a poisonous plant. I bet the farmers in Mwingi would love the opportunity to find any plant, poisonous or not, to feed the bucks!

Overall, however, the Meru Goat Breeders’ Association has been doing very well. Breeding stations are set up in numerous locations, and many of the farmers are enjoying the fruits of their hard work, selling some of the offspring to raise funds for school fees or other costs. Last month alone, members of the Association sold goats to the value of over 1 million KSh – that’s around £8,000.

But that’s not all they’re doing. A few years ago, with the support of FARM-Africa, they set up a milk processing plant. They can collect the surplus milk from the members before treating and packaging, selling both fresh milk and yoghurt. It has great potential, but is unfortunately being held back at the moment due to delays in getting the necessary quality-mark from the Government.

Of course, not everything is perfect. FARM-Africa rightly has very little direct involvement in the activities around Meru anymore, so my visit also gave them an opportunity to have a look round. It wasn’t all as it should be. Some of the goat housing is not in fantastic condition (they assured us that the wood on the floor was just waiting to be put up to repair them), and a few of the kids were underweight and needed worming.

I was also a little disappointed to hear a request from one of the members (admittedly a new one who perhaps wasn’t aware of exactly how the project was supposed to work) for more funds so that they can restock some of their breeding stations with more Toggenburgs. But FARM-Africa have learned lessons from the way they implemented the project in Meru, and the problems that arose, and tried to rectify them as they adapted the model for Mwingi.

One issue that I feel is a big challenge is how to change the overall financial mindset of the farmers. Prior to getting involved, they were exceptionally poor. In that kind of situation, you can’t afford to worry about tomorrow too much; your focus must be on getting enough food and water to survive today. Therefore, when they find themselves with a kid that has a market value of 10,000 KSh, there will always be a great temptation to sell it in order to have that money, rather than thinking about the potential for milk and further offspring from that kid. Trying to get them to start planning and investing in their own future will always be a challenge, and the savings and credit scheme that has been set up in Mwingi is one way to tackle that.

Another issue is one of general financial management and thinking like a business. Each farmer is effectively becoming a self-employed businessman, producing and selling milk and goats in order to earn a living. They still seem a little reluctant to stand on their own two feet, as shown by their delight at the visit from me and FARM-Africa. The milk processing plant clearly has a lot of potential, both in local markets and in the capital, Nairobi.

Recently, a new quality standard was introduced, and they have needed to send samples off for testing in order to be able to sell their products again. Despite the fact that the test results were due back a week ago, and every day that passes they are losing money, they hadn’t yet followed up what was going on, simply explaining that they hadn’t seen the person who was supposed to be dealing with it yet. That’s something that needs to be different in Mwingi and, based on what I’ve seen among people like Macdonald and within the SACCO committee, I suspect it will be.

As for Meru, despite the minor problems, the successes are inspiring. Every farmer has a story to tell about how the goats have allowed them to send their children through secondary school or something equally valuable. The whole area is now littered with Toggenburgs, as other members of the community have seen what can be achieved with them and approached the MGBA to purchase goats.

With a few small changes, who knows where they can end up. Do Tesco need a new goats’ milk supplier?!