Project to improve Kenyan milk quality planned

Small holder dairy farmers in nine districts will be assisted to enhance production and improve on their milk quality.

An assistant director of livestock production, Moses Kembe, said some countries within the COMESA region had rejected milk from Kenya, saying it did not meet the required standards. He cited Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia, as some of the countries, which have in the past rejected milk from Kenya, saying it was of low quality because of poor quality feeds. He referred to poor animal husbandry as another of the causes of low quality milk, which the programme also seeks to address.

The project has five components, which include the development of the milk marketing chain, support to key policy institutions and provision of technical support to smallholder dairy producers.

Kembe is the coordinator of the Smallholder Dairy Commercialisation Programme (SCDP) jointly implemented by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Kenya Government. He said an estimated 1.5 billion Shillings ($ ) would be spent in the implementation of the project, which was launched in July 2006 and is scheduled to run until September 2013. An estimated 24,000 small scale dairy farmers and close to 300 milk traders and 90 milk bar owners and milk process would be reached directly during the programme period.

Daily Nation