The dairy draft regulations will undergo a review after Kenya Dairy
Board offered to open fresh talks with farmers. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The dairy draft regulations will undergo a review after Kenya Dairy Board offered to open fresh talks with farmers.
Kenya
Dairy Board (KDB) managing director Margaret Kibogy said her board had
partnered dairy farmer groups representing smallholder milk producers
and the Kenya Dairy Farmers Federation, representing interests of
large-scale milk producers, to re-launch the talks.
“It
is important that the dairy sector value chain is streamlined enabling
dairy farmers to enjoy better prices via informed access to milk coolers
and processors. This will best be addressed via
structured consultations on the contentious regulations,” she said.
Ms
Kibogy said a fragmented dairy sector only benefited milk transporters
at the expense of smallholder producers who had no option but to dispose
of milk to the middlemen for onward delivery to milk processors.
Bright
Dairy Farmers Group executive secretary Elisha Bwatuti welcomed the
talks saying self-regulation should address all farmer interests at
every level.
“For the dairy industry to thrive, we need
facilitative regulations that do not hurt interests of grass-root
farmers in the remote parts of the country,” he noted.
Among
the most controversial clauses is introduction of punitive fines where a
farmer found selling milk to hawkers risks being fined Sh500,000. An
array of additional levies had also been included raising fears that
dairy farming would become an expensive affair.
Kenya
Dairy Farmers Federation secretary general Richard Soy urged the State
Department of Livestock and the county governments to collaborate in
easing licence fees as well as look into subsidising provision of
extension and artificial insemination services.
The
regulations also sought to outlaw individual direct deliveries of milk
below 500 litres to milk processors in favour of group-led deliveries.
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