NAIROBI, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's milk production is set to decline in 2017 due to drought conditions in the country, the industry regulator said on Thursday.
Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) Managing Director Margaret Kibogy told a media briefing in Nairobi that Kenya farmers produced 5.2 billion liters of milk in 2016.
"For the first six months of 2017, milk production has declined by approximately 50 percent as compared to a similar period last year. As a result our milk production this year will be less than that of 2016," Kibogy said during the launch of the Delamere Fruit Yoghurt.
In order to plug the production deficit, Kenya has approved the importation of 9,000 metric tons of duty free milk powder to help increase the supply of raw milk.
Kibogy noted that Kenya also receives an average of one million liters of milk products per month mostly from the other East African Community member states.
"The milk imports are expected to ensure normal processed milk supply over a period of three months when normal supplies is expected to be fully restored," she said.
In order to encourage farmers to produce and deliver more milk, the producer price was adjusted from 30 U.S. cents to 43 cents per liter.
The milk production in Kenya is small holder based with over one million farmers being involved.
Overall, the industry has a contribution of approximately four percent of the Gross Domestic Product and provides 750,000 and 500,000 direct and indirect jobs respectively.
In 2015, the law was amended to allow the Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund to include milk powder as a strategic food commodity.
Kibogy said that the government has already released five million dollars to purchase surplus milk in order to build milk powder reserves.
The East African nation's consumption trend has also been on an upward trend.
"It is estimated that per capita consumption of milk and milk products stands at an estimated 90-110 liter per annum," said the milk regulator.
"This is one of the highest in Sub-Sahara Africa, it however remains lower than the world standard of 210 liters per annum," said the managing director.
KDB added that the majority of milk produced is consumed without being processed by the formal milk industry.
The government has also put in place several measures to control informal milk marketing including increased surveillance and consumer education to encourage consumers to consume only safe and quality milk. Enditem
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