Nyeri agricultural show in 2012. [Photo/ng'arua maarifa ]Shortage of fodder caused by a prolonged dry spell in the County has caused Milk production in Nyeri to drop by 24 per cent this year.This year Dairy farmers in the devolved unit earned Sh2.9 billion compared to Sh3.5bn last year, a 21 percent decline.Nyeri produced approximately 97 million litres of milk compared to 125 million litres last year as a protracted drought bit into farmers' productivity this is according to statistics from the Department of Agriculture.A shortage of forage, poor quality hay and increased prices of animal feed is to blame for the trend.The milk was sold both informally and formally to dairy processors at between Sh28 and sh30.Dairy farmers earned Sh44 million from selling milk formally and Sh30 million from milk traded informally.Farmers have been urged to invest heavily in the dairy enterprise in order to increase their returns.Agriculture executive Robert Thuo said, “The major constraint for a farmer is that animal feeds have become so expensive for the farmers to afford.”

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