The Kenya Dairy Sub-sector: A rapid appraisal

This report presents the results of a study of Kenya's dairy systems, addressing policy and institutional issues related to dairy development in Kenya. The Rapid Appraisal is an indicative analysis of the dairy systems within the following milk sheds and consumption centres: Lake Basin; Central and South Rift Valley; Central Province; Eastern Province; Greater Nairobi; and, Coast Province.

A brief history of the dairy industry in Kenya is presented that may partly explain its uniqueness in the East African region. The report highlights the increasing opportunities which smallholder dairying represents for income generation and agricultural development, including the opportunities for increasing production and marketed output; the important interaction between access to the market and levels of milk sales and prices; the lack of accurate estimates of demand patterns; the importance of informal milk marketing and concerns over associated public health hazards; the lack of accurate livestock census reports to allow accurate impact assessments; and the potential for large increases in the productivity and profitability of dairying stimulated by the liberalisation of milk processing, marketing and input services.

Milk marketing and consumption, dairy production systems, institutional and policy issues, and primary constraints to dairy production and marketing are also addressed.