High taxes and lower prices for raw milk are frustrating dairy farmers, industry officials have said.
Processors on Thursday cut payments for raw milk from Sh30 and above per litre to Sh26.
The Kenya Dairy Farmers Federation yesterday called for the decision to be reversed, citing high production costs.
“We can produce more milk, but we are being frustrated by the processors and the government through taxation,” chairman Richard Tuwei said.
He was speaking to journalists in Eldoret town during an annual general meeting of dairy farmers.
The chairman said the Kenya Dairy Board has failed to regulate the sector and no longer serves farmers’ interests.
Tuwei said the price cut would hurt farmers as they are the producers and the consumers.
However, processors reap maximum profits from delivering milk products to shops, he said.
The chairman said farmers under the KDFF produce more than 300,000 litres a day.
He said there is no milk shortfall in Kenya, yet a company has been allowed to import cheap milk powder through Uganda.
Tuwei cited the trade deals signed during a recent visit by President Uhuru Kenyatta to Uganda.
“We now believe that sugar and dairy farmers were shortchanged by the government,” he said.
Federation CEO David Bett said a dominant company among milk processors may be “plotting to control the market”.
