Matungu CBO: Kakamega Women Group Adding Value To Soya Beans By Making Milk, Yoghurt

Matungu Community Based Organization (CBO) is located in Kakamega County.

The organization comprises of 12 farmers adding value to soya beans to produce okara, yoghurt, crackies and soya milk.

The value addition chain does not only benefit the people of the western county, but also livestock and chicken as the end product of the process is used to make feeds.

Here is their story as told by WoK.

Matungu CBO was established in 2019.

This followed a realization by the initial group members that soya was highly nutritious to the human body.

It was also realized that products made from the cereal could help manage underlying conditions such as allergies, diabetes and cancer.

It was then when Gaudencia Ongwen, the chairwoman of the CBO, was taught how to extract milk from soya beans by the Anglican Development Services (ADS).

Later, Matungu CBO was introduced to Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) through ADS.

Members of the CBO underwent training and kicked off their business with Ksh 10,000 capital drawn from membership contributions.

Initially, the CBO would use wood and pestle to extract milk from the soya beans but they later acquired an electric grinder with the help of ADS.

The CBO does their production two times a week, and source their raw materials from contracted farmers in Kakamega, Bungoma and Busia counties.

“Our duties, which are usually split, include receiving, weighing, sorting or marketing soya finished products,” Ongwen said.

Once the soya beans arrive at their production unit, they sort then and soak for eight hours before it is removed and rinsed in clean water.

Now, to make soya milk, a cup of soya beans is added to a cup of water then ground to produce slurry.

Water is then added to the slurry, before it is sieved to get the milk from the paste. A litre of milk sells for Ksh 100.

Other than milk, they also make okara, yoghurt and crackies which are mostly consumed by school-going children.

“Okara is made from the chaff that is obtained after sieving soy pulp. We use it to make feeds for chickens and other livestock,” Ongwen told Seeds of Gold.

While two kilos of soya beans produce 20 litres of fresh milk, the same amount of soya beans produces 16 litres of yoghurt.

The yoghurt is packed in small quantities and goes for Ksh 20 to Ksh 100.

“We add some sugar to sweeten it. Thereafter, it is put in a blender for mixing with vanilla or strawberry,” she added.