The volume of milk purchased by processors from farmers hit a historic high of 908.4 million litres in 2024, buoyed chiefly by improved weather that boosted production.
The Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) data shows a 12.04 percent year-on-year growth from the 810.8 million litres purchased in 2023, with last year’s quantity marking the highest in a single year since 2001 when the agency started recording the data.
The sufficient rains witnessed since March last year boosted production as farmers enjoyed cheaper prices of fodder, helping output recover from a contraction recorded at the beginning of the previous year due to a biting drought.
Over the years, the 2002 calendar year recorded the lowest sales volume to formal processors at 143.6 million litres, marking a 5.8 percent drop from the 152.4 million litres sold in 2001.
With an approximated 1.8 million smallholder farmers who make up around 80 percent of the producers, it is estimated that about 80 percent of Kenya’s milk is marketed informally.
KDB estimates production—including formally and informally marketed milk—is about 5.2 billion litres annually. As of last April, the dairy board had licensed some 334 milk producers and coolers, but production from these merchants has not been sufficient to meet demand.
This has seen Kenya increasingly rely on imports, particularly from Uganda, to meet the demand for processed milk and related products such as ghee, cheese, butter, and yoghurt.
Data from the Uganda Dairy Development Authority—the agency that regulates the country’s dairy sub-sector —for instance, shows that the East African neighbour exported dairy products worth Ush810.56 billion (Sh28.6 billion) to Kenya during the year ended June 2023.
This translated to 83 percent of the total dairy products sold out by Uganda during the period.
In its 2024-2027 strategic plan, KDB aims to grow Kenya’s production to 11 billion litres annually within the next two years and in the process, increase exports to one billion litres.
“To double production, interventions to enhance feeding, breeding, disease control, and farmer extension services will be implemented to increase productivity per cow from five to 10 litres per day,” said the State agency.
