Kenya’s dairy sector is recording a sharper increase in value than in milk production, according to figures presented by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki—a trend that puts the spotlight on how much the country earns from its milk.
Speaking at the opening of the Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit in Nairobi on Wednesday, Kindiki said milk production had increased from 4.6 billion litres to 5.2 billion litres, while the value of dairy products had risen from Sh4.9 billion to Sh8.9 billion.
The figures represent an increase of about 13 per cent in production and nearly 82 per cent in value. However, Kindiki did not specify the comparison period or clarify whether the dairy value figures referred to exports or the wider market.
The difference raises an important question for the sector: what is driving the higher earnings? Processing, changes in prices and access to markets could help explain the trend, although the figures presented do not establish their individual contributions.
Kindiki said Kenya was now Africa’s leading exporter of processed milk, attributing the sector’s growth to government interventions across the dairy value chain.
For dairy farmers, the practical test is whether stronger market earnings translate into better farm-gate prices, reliable purchases and timely payments. An increase in the value of dairy products does not, by itself, show how much of that growth reaches producers.
Kindiki placed farmers at the centre of the government’s agricultural agenda, saying interventions were targeting production, livestock health, value addition and food security.
He said the national farmer register had expanded from about 300,000 to 7.2 million crop farmers and three million livestock keepers. An ongoing vaccination programme had also reached 8.9 million cattle, against an estimated national herd of 22 million.
Beyond dairy, the deputy president reported an increase in the value of meat exports from Sh8.9 billion to Sh12.9 billion. He also pointed to County Aggregation and Industrial Parks as part of efforts to expand agricultural processing.
His remarks put value addition at the centre of Kenya’s agricultural growth story. The next measure of that progress will be how consistently higher earnings in the market improve the livelihoods of the farmers supplying it.