Dairy farmers in the country have in the recent past been going through very hard times due to poor prices of milk and the ever rising cost of animal feeds . This has made the business unprofitable and unattractive to thousands of farmers mainly concentrated in the rural areas who rely on it for their livelihood. The local market has also been flooded with cheap milk imported from the neighbouring countries to the detriment of our dairy farmers since the price conscious consumers have shunned their produce.
As a way of partially alleviating the farmers’ plight, the Kenya Dairy Board [KDB] has capped the amount of money that cooperatives can deduct from dairy farmers to Kshs. 2 per litre. The board has undertaken this initiative in conjunction with the commissioner of cooperatives.
Margret Kibogy, the managing director of KDB, has said that the move is aimed at ensuring that farmers earn at least Kshs. 30 for a litre of milk after various deductions have been effected. Currently, the milk cooperatives are charging producers up to Kshs. 3 a litre as administrative costs.
Nevertheless, some farmers are not happy with this development on the ground that their views were not taken into consideration before it was effected.