The USAID will partner with Busia county to develop the Dairy Development Strategy to guide the industry.
The world’s premier international development agency has picked Busia among 22 counties in developing the DDS through the International Livestock Research Institute and Kenya Dairy Board.
An agricultural economist at ILRI James Rao said the document will help coordinate the dairy sector growth and planning for Busia, adding they are collaborating with the KDB.
Speaking after a meeting with Busia Agricultural Department officers, led by the Agriculture executive Moses Osia on Thursday, Rao said the document will outline areas and opportunities for investment in the dairy sector.
“We shall have the first stakeholders’ forum in June where the stakeholders in the dairy value chain will form a vision; in about two to three months, we shall get dairy strategy document outlining the gaps, the dairy value chains and strategies for bridging the gap in the dairy value chains,” he said.
Dairy consultant Dominic Menjo said the dairy sector is faced with numerous challenges because of low production. This, he said, is caused by underfeeding of cows.
Menjo said the quality of milk in Kenya is good but how it’s handled and the containers it is stored in leaves it with high bacterial content.
He also cited the high cost of production of Kenyan milk compared to the rest of the world; this is attributed to unit of production which is too small to meet overhead costs, adding that cost of labour, feeds and taxes are also very high.
The dairy consultant said Kenya went into milk deficit in 2017 with the production of 3-4 per cent against the growing demand of 7 per cent. The country then started importing milk to seal the estimated 60,000-litre deficit annually.
Chief Officer for animal resources Eng Richard Achiambo said the department will form a committee to fast-track the development of the strategy document.
