Kenya Dairy Board

The history of the dairy industry in Kenya dates back to 1902 when the first exotic dairy cows were introduced by the European settlers. The first crops of the introduced animals were cross-bred with the indigenous cattle over time. The first creamery was established in Naivasha in 1922. In 1946, the first artificial Insemination service was introduced. The station provided A.I. services at a highly subsidized price and this led to the rapid multiplication of the country’s dairy herd. As of now Kenya hosts about 3.35 million heads of dairy cattle.

The Sywnnerton Plan of 1956 allowed indigenous Kenyans to engage in commercial dairy farming. In 1958, the Kenya Dairy Board was established through an Act of Parliament, the Dairy industry Act Cap 336 of the laws of Kenya with the overall objective of regulating the dairy industry to ensure smooth development in the industry

After independence smallholder dairy production grew rapidly. The Kibaki Commission of 1964 abolished milk quotas which favored smallholder production as it improved access to milk market which was monopolized by KCC. KCC also rapidly expanded in the 1970/80s and established a number of factories and cooling centers.

The Dairy industry was liberalized in 1992 which allowed the private sector to participate in milk processing. This saw the entrance of a number of private milk processors and also the advent and growth of the informal sector.

By the year 2000, KCC had been privatized and its operations had severely weakened.

In 2003, the Government repossessed KCC and renamed it New KCC. The government also implemented a number of measures to revive the ailing dairy industry. These included improving producer prices, enforcing payments for milk deliveries and managing the importation of dairy products which posed a threat to the local dairy industry.

At present, the industry has made a turn around with the annual production of milk exceeding 4 billion litres out of which 2.1 billion litres is marketed formally and informally. The volumes of milk going to the processing plants have also increased to 516 million litres in 2010 as compared to 144 million litres in 2002 (a growth of 258%). The industry is also a major source of livelihood to a large majority of Kenyans and it contributes approximately 4% of Kenya’s GDP (though recent studies indicate 8%) and acts as a source of income and employment to over 1.5 million smallholder dairy farmers in addition to 500,000 direct jobs in milk transportation, processing and distribution and a further 750,000 in related support services.

The rural based nature of dairying makes it a suitable enterprise to contribute towards the government’s strategy to meeting the millennium development goals and vision 2030.