A few days ago, the Cab­i­net Sec­re­tary for Agri­cul­ture Dr Andrew Karan­ja launched the 2024 Study Report on Milk Pro­duc­tion Costs and Prof­itabil­i­ty, which details the sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion of the sec­tor makes in uplift­ing the liv­ing stan­dard of many Kenyans as well as the chal­lenges it must yet sur­mount to live up to its full potential.

With annu­al pro­duc­tion of more than five bil­lion litres each year, Kenya cur­rent­ly con­tributes at least 10% of Africa’s total milk pro­duc­tion and 35% of the East African Community’s sup­ply. The sec­tor sup­ports over 1.8 mil­lion small­hold­er farm­ers and con­tribut­ing about 4% to our GDP, mak­ing it a cru­cial cog in the wheel of our nation­al progress.

Indeed, it is now wide­ly acknowl­edged that the dairy sec­tor can also play a sig­nif­i­cant role in achiev­ing a num­ber of the Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals (SDGs), includ­ing food secu­ri­ty, com­bat­ing hunger, end­ing pover­ty, pro­mot­ing health and well-being as well as sup­port­ing decent work and eco­nom­ic growth.

In my recent dia­logue with one Dr. Ignatius Kahiu, a sea­soned expert in sus­tain­able agri­cul­tur­al devel­op­ment, we found our­selves reflect­ing on how far this sec­tor has come and the inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that could yet rede­fine the tra­jec­to­ry of the sec­tor and improve the lot of mil­lions of farmers.

The sec­tor still grap­ples with high pro­duc­tion costs and infra­struc­tur­al inef­fi­cien­cies, both of which have been exac­er­bat­ed by cli­mate vari­abil­i­ty. These issues not only dimin­ish pro­duc­tiv­i­ty but also the prof­itabil­i­ty that our dili­gent farm­ers right­ful­ly deserve. A recent study by the Inter­na­tion­al Live­stock Research Insi­tute (ILRI) for instance, found a yield of gap of between 39% to 49% in milk pro­duc­tion in most parts of the Rift Val­ley. This means that most cows in the region are pro­duc­ing way less than their full poten­tial, there­by under­cut­ting pos­si­ble earnings.

These chal­lenges call for a com­plete rethink of the sec­tor. The recent ini­tia­tive by the Kenyan gov­ern­ment to vac­ci­nate 22 mil­lion cat­tle is an impor­tant start­ing point. Live­stock vac­ci­na­tion is crit­i­cal for improv­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty as it helps pre­vent the spread of dis­eases, reduc­ing ani­mal mor­tal­i­ty and mor­bid­i­ty. Healthy live­stock are more pro­duc­tive, yield­ing bet­ter, while also improv­ing repro­duc­tive per­for­mance. This ini­tia­tive, crit­i­cal for boost­ing live­stock health and milk pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, how­ev­er, hinges on trans­paren­cy and integri­ty in its exe­cu­tion. Ensur­ing that every step tak­en is account­able is essen­tial for build­ing trust and ensur­ing the ben­e­fits reach every farmer involved.

Sec­ond­ly, we must lever­age recent tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tions to the make the dairy sec­tor more effi­cient. We should, for instance, invest in auto­mat­ed milk­ing sys­tems and solar-pow­ered cool­ing units. Adopt­ing solar-pow­ered units could reduce milk spoilage rates sig­nif­i­cant­ly, which cur­rent­ly cost the indus­try mil­lions in lost rev­enue annu­al­ly. Fur­ther such ini­tia­tives would also serve to reduce the car­bon foot­print of the sec­tor which togeth­er with the meat indus­try cur­rent­ly con­tributes at least 14.5% of green­house gas emis­sions globally.

Expand­ing mar­ket access and enhanc­ing val­ue addi­tion also hold trans­for­ma­tive poten­tial. Cur­rent­ly, only about 40% of our milk under­goes pro­cess­ing. By scal­ing this to at least 60%, as aimed by the lat­est ini­tia­tives, we can sta­bi­lize mar­ket prices and enrich con­sumer choic­es with high-qual­i­ty dairy prod­ucts like cheese and yogurt. This not only secures high­er rev­enues but also pro­motes bet­ter nutri­tion across the country.

Edu­ca­tion­al ini­tia­tives are equal­ly crit­i­cal. The plan to expand train­ing pro­grams to equip farm­ers with mod­ern agri­cul­tur­al tech­niques and insights into sus­tain­able prac­tices is long over­due. Such knowl­edge empow­ers farm­ers, trans­form­ing them into advo­cates of growth and sus­tain­abil­i­ty with­in their communities.

Col­lab­o­ra­tions with inter­na­tion­al donors, agri­cul­tur­al tech firms, and local gov­ern­ments are paving the way for a more inte­grat­ed and tech­no­log­i­cal­ly advanced dairy sec­tor. We can lever­age such part­ner­ships to enhance oper­a­tional effi­cien­cies and fos­ter a cul­ture of inno­va­tion and com­pli­ance with glob­al qual­i­ty standards.

Through these con­cert­ed efforts, we can trans­form our dairy sec­tor into a bea­con of eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty and a sym­bol of sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, to nour­ish Kenyan fam­i­lies for gen­er­a­tions to come. Think Green, Act Green!