Milk Shortage To End In Two Weeks, Kenya Dairy Board

According to Kenya Dairy Board Managing Director Margaret Kibogy, Kenya’s milk production is heavily dependent on rain, and with the ongoing rainfall in various parts of the country, production will pick and thus lead to price stabilization of the commodity.

“We can assure our consumers that the situation should correct itself in two weeks, there is no need to panic,” Said Kibogy.

The New KCC Chair, Nixon Sigey, also supported the fact indicating that the shortage of milk in the country was due to adverse weather conditions, which saw milk delivery from farmers drop by 50 percent.

“Six months without rains has affected production at farm level and is the main reason why we have dropped by almost 50 percent in terms of supply,” Sigei said.

Sigei said Kenya’s dairy farming is largely rain-fed and rain-dependent because this determines the availability of fodder that is fed to the cattle.

Also, the adverse effects of rain shortage have caused a spike in the cost of animal feeds by more than 30 percent in less than a year across the country. This is on account of the high prices of corn, minerals, and soya beans.

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The high cost of feed, which is a major determinant in mil production, has also increased production costs by almost 55 percent.

The Reduction in Milk supply from milk processors has seen several milk shelves empty in various supermarkets across the country, with others being forced to ration the number of packets per customer.

This has led to a tremendous rise in the mil prices. A 70 kg bag of the dairy meal is now retailing at 3,400 shillings compared to 2,500 shillings in August 2021.

The 500g packet of Fresha Milk is retailing at between 60 to 75 shillings in various supermarkets as well as retail shops across the country.

Kenyans require about 74 million liters monthly to meet the high demand. However, production has gone down by almost 15 percent thus creating more demand for the commodity every month.

Meanwhile, Industry data shows that milk consumption in Kenya stands at 60 liters per liter per capita.