Had Denis Rosana realised during his 13-year tenure as a driver that dairy farming is a money-spinning venture, he would have quit in his first year of employment.

Rosana’s farming venture has done so well in the past five years he wishes he had begun earlier. Having started out with one dairy cow in 1991, it was not until 2002 that he decided to venture fully into farming.

With a steady supply of milk from his two dairy cows in 2005, Rosana realised he could do better. He decided to increase the number of cows in his farm to 12.

“I make a profit of Sh20, 000 a month from dairy farming. I am impressed with the performance of my farm,” he says at his farm in Ensakia village, Borabu, in the highlands of Nyamira.

After quitting his job at St Marys Mosocho in 2002, Rosana moved back to his farm and embarked on farming before being elected a civic leader in 2002, a seat he successfully defended in 2007.

“This was the beginning of a long journey full of challenges, lessons and successes.” A litre of milk retails at Sh25 in the local market, but Rosana sells his to Brookside Dairies at Sh32. He is looking forward to the county government’s cooling plant which is yet to begin operations.

With 45 liters from his farm daily, he makes Sh10,000 per week from the seven cows currently lactating. This will add up to Sh40, 000 a month.

“In 2013, I lost the civic seat and retreated to farming. I started another project to rare pigs,” he says.

Rosana rears more than six pigs and 35 piglets. Last year, he sold six-month-old pigs to farmers in Nakuru at Sh15,000 each.

The project, which was intended for subsistence purposes, is now an income earner for the former civic leader.

He wakes up early in the morning to ensure his animals are fed well and have enough food for the day.

He feeds the pigs on vegetable and food wastes. He looks forward to being a major player piglet production and in the white meat production.

To cut on the cost of feeds, the farmer has four acres of land under nappier grass, one and half acres on Kamrock grass. He also has more than 260 kienyeji chicken which he supplies to a number of local hotels in Keroka, Kijauri and Kisii towns for between Sh600 and Sh800 each.

“I make an average of Sh20,000 from chicken raring. Manure from the chicken house goes straight to the farm and helps cut on the cost of fertiliser. Mixed farming saves costs,” he says.

He says that an egg retails at Sh15. He encourages farmers in the locality to engage in mixed farming to get good returns.

With the proceeds from the farm and a Sh200,000 bank loan, the farmer has bought a pick-up which he uses to fetch water from a nearby dam.

Through the venture, he has paid school fees for his children in university. “I started this venture as an initiative to support my family, but I am amazed how big this has become in less than 10 years,” he says.

He says he plans to venture into both sheep and goat raring to reduce waste from dairy and pig farming.

Despite the success, he says the cost of feeds poses a great challenge. “The price of feeds has increased constantly and without proper planning one can easily give up in the venture.”

Area MP Ben Momanyi has hailed Rosana’s farm, saying its replication would lead to wealth creation and creation of jobs in the county.

He encourages more farmers to practice mixed and commercial agriculture and wants the county government to support such initiatives by creating more market for farm produce.