Dairy farmers will from today receive up to Sh12 more from one litre of milk delivered to the New KCC milk factory.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya announced yesterday that New KCC will start buying milk at Sh33 at the farm gate, up from the range of Sh20 to Sh29 they have been giving farmers.
Farmers have complained before of low milk prices and accused processers of exploiting them despite the high cost of production.
Joseph Wanjuki, a dairy farmer from Kieni West who has been selling milk to New KCC at Sh26 welcomed the President’s decision.
“We are happy that the President has listened to farmer’s woes. We hope that the new CS will not only streamline the dairy sub-sector but also the tea, coffee and other sub-sectors so that farmers can stop being exploited and benefit,” he said.
The move follows the directive from President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday when he announced that the national Treasury will release Sh500 million to New KCC to mop up excess milk in the country and convert it to powder.
“This will cushion dairy farmers against the current glut in the market. It will also protect farmers from the high cost of production and other challenges in the sector,” Munya said.
Nixon Sigey, the New KCC managing director said they had in the 2019-20 financial budget requested for Sh2 billion to buy milk during the glut.
“Besides mopping up excess milk in the country, the money will also be used to complete two milking processing plants based in Nyahururu and Kiganjo,” Sigey said.
Miharati Farmer Cooperative and Nyandarua Cooperative Union chairman Njuguna Murega said the move will force other milk processors to also increase their prices from the current Sh26 per litre.
“It will eventually bring the price of milk at the farm gate to a minimum of Sh27-Sh29 per litre,” Murega said.
Murang'a county Agriculture executive Albert Mwaniki said they have been buying milk at Sh35 from farmers and intend to maintain those prices to cushion them from market fluctuations.
“We are receiving over 160,000 litres of milk dairy from our small scale farmers,” Mwaniki said.
